The family of Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymond today demanded answers from the man who carried out the show’s controversial lie detector test.
The 63-year-old from Hampshire died in a suspected suicide in his bedroom surrounded by empty packets of pills.
His death came after he failed a lie detector test on the ITV show when insisting he’d been faithful to fiancée Jane Callaghan.
Lawyers for the family told a hearing today that they believe polygraph operator Guy Heseltine should be called to give evidence at the inquest into Mr Dymond’s death.
Steven Dymond (left), 63, was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming for Jeremy Kyle with his on-and-off girlfriend Jane Callaghan (right, with Mr Dymond)
Lawyers for the family of Steve Dymond have called for Guy Heseltine to give evidence at the inquest into the 63-year-old’s death. He reportedly provided polygraph services to the Jeremy Kyle show for 12 years
Mr Heseltine is understood to have provided polygraph services to The Jeremy Kyle Show for the past twelve years.
Lawyers for Mr Dymond’s family claimed the Jeremy Kyle Show, described as ‘human bear-baiting’, failed to adequately safeguard the ‘vulnerable’ construction worker.
They told a hearing today that ‘public confidence’ had been rocked by the scandal and questioned how staff on the ITV programme were taught to look after participants.
Steve Dymond died in a suspected suicide after appearing on the ITV show hosted by Jeremy Kyle (pictured on an episode of his show) to discuss whether he’d been faithful to his fiancée
They also demanded they be able to view ‘raw footage’ filmed for the programme, citing fears the video they have seen has been ‘edited and polished’.
In a hearing held today at Portsmouth Coroners Court, Hants, which had to be adjourned part way through due to technological issues with the video link, lawyers for the family provided written submissions to the coroner.
Barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher, on behalf of Mr Dymond’s family, said: ‘Mr Guy Heseltine conducted the polygraph test on Mr Dymond, the results of which were revealed on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
‘The Family understands that Mr Heseltine provided polygraph services to The Jeremy Kyle Show for twelve years…
‘From the documents and information that have so far been disclosed to the family, it appears that Mr Heseltine may be subjected to criticism for his actions in the period prior to Mr Dymond’s death.
‘At this stage, we do not put it higher than this, but we suggest it would be prudent for HM Coroner to contact Mr Heseltine to ascertain whether, in light of his role and the potential for criticism, he wishes to be an interested party.’
The show employed Guy Heseltine and Tim Burgess from Manchester’s UK Lie Tests to run their polygraph. Costing £400 a test and taking two hours each, the tests are complex and were said to be highly accurate.
Mrs Gallagher told today’s hearing the family also wish to learn more about the assessment of participants on the show, the safeguards in place, and the aftercare.
Steve Dymond (pictured) took his life after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle show where he failed the ‘lie-detector test’
She raised concerns over the footage the family had been given access to, saying: ‘The Family has concerns that the footage is polished and edited, and does not represent the totality of the footage that would have been recorded on all cameras on the day.’
Mr Dymond had been at The Jeremy Kyle Show studios trying to convince his partner Ms Callaghan, 48, he was faithful.
Dymond first split from fiancée Jane in February 2019, after she accused him of cheating on her. He then went on the show tn a bid to prove her wrong.
The episode in which he appeared was never aired.
On May 13, The Jeremy Kyle Show was abruptly pulled off air after ITV bosses learned of Mr Dymond’s death.
Mr Dymond’s body was discovered surrounded by empty packets of morphine and sleeping pills in his £100-a-week room in Portsmouth, on May 9 – just days before the show was scrapped.
Today’s hearing was told the cause of his death could now be confirmed as a morphine overdose.
Mr Dymond’s family also raised concerns with the coroner that when his GP referred him to the Southern Health acute mental health team in the weeks before his death they had only deemed him to be ‘low risk’.
This was despite his GP, Dr Amjad-Ur Rehman, warning he had recurring suicidal thoughts.
A previous hearing was told the construction worker was ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ when he took part in the recording on May 2.
Mrs Gallagher had revealed Mr Dymond stopped taking prescribed anti-depressants in order to take the show’s polygraph test and claimed the family had seen ‘no evidence’ that Mr Dymond was given any welfare checks by any qualified mental health staff.
Police have told the coroner the death was a suspected suicide.
After the incident, ITV bosses permanently cancelled The Jeremy Kyle Show, which ran 3,320 episodes over 16 seasons since it first aired in July 2005.
Media regulator Ofcom asked ITV for a report into the incident and the channel has since asked for more time to conduct an investigation.
ITV bosses appeared in front of a House of Commons committee in June of last year as part of an inquiry into reality TV organised by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Damian Collins MP, said experts say the lie detector tests used on the show are only around 66 per cent accurate.
Area coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Jason Pegg said a further pre-inquest review has now been scheduled for October 29 and 30.
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