Jeremy Kyle Show guest Steve Dymond had spoken to medics about suicidal thoughts, inquest hears
A Jeremy Kyle Show guest who died after filming an episode of the programme had spoken to medics about having suicidal thoughts in the weeks beforehand, an inquest has been told.
Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in May 2019 – seven days after failing a lie detector test during filming for the ITV programme.
He had been accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee. He hoped to show her this was not true and believed a test on the Jeremy Kyle programme would prove this.
On the second day of a full inquest into his death, Winchester Coroner’s Court heard Mr Dymond died of a combination of a morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart.
He had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in 1995 and taken overdoses on four previous occasions – in January 1995, twice in December 2002, and April 2005 – the hearing was told.
The court heard he also made another apparent suicide attempt in 2002.
He was sectioned in September 2005, and a mental health assessment then found he was at “risk of suicide”.
The Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled following Mr Dymond’s death. Pic: Channel 4/ITV/Shutterstock
The interactions with medics before show filming
Dr Amjad Rehman, a GP at the Rowner Health Centre in Gosport, Hampshire, saw Mr Dymond on 14 March 2019, the inquest heard.
Mr Dymond told him of suicidal thoughts, he said, so he made a “very urgent” referral to an acute mental health crisis team.
“He was very depressed and said he was depressed for the last four weeks, he was separated from his partner for the last four weeks,” Dr Rehman told the court. “He kept lying to her, was continually lying to his partner.”
The doctor said he examined Mr Dymond, who “was very anxious, picking at his arm, and he was very upset”.
Not all of the patient’s medical records connected to his mental health were available on his system at the time of the consultation, Dr Rehman told the court.
An assessment by the acute mental health team found he had “suicidal thoughts” but denied “any concrete plan”, the inquest heard.
The inquest into Mr Dymond’s death has heard about his history of depression
Dymond ‘wanted to get help with being a compulsive liar’
The review said he wanted “to get help with being a compulsive liar and get help with being a narcissist”. It was concluded there was not an “enduring mental health illness present”, the inquest was told.
Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond’s case was referred back to the community health team, under his supervision, because he was deemed to be of “low risk of suicide” and had been experiencing a “reactive episode” to his relationship breakdown.
He saw Mr Dymond again just over two weeks later, on 29 March 2019, and prescribed him the antidepressant Sertraline.
At that time, he was still reporting “off and on self-harm thoughts” but had no “plans to materialise them”, Dr Rehman told the court.
On 10 April 2019, Mr Dymond saw a nurse practitioner and asked for a letter to say he was not depressed or taking anti-depressants. This was so he could go on a television show to take a lie detector test, the court was told.
The anti-depressants had been returned, unused, but the nurse refused to write the letter.
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Doctor knew he wanted to go on TV but did not ask details
Mr Dymond attended Dr Rehman’s surgery again on 29 April 2019. On this occasion, he “banged” open his door with his foot and “aggressively” asked for the letter “as a matter of life or death”, the GP said.
He told the court he felt Mr Dymond’s mood and appearance had improved and so agreed to write a letter reflecting this, but declined to say he was not suffering from depression.
“Mr Dymond has a history of low mood and depression but his mood has improved since he got back together with his partner,” the letter said.
“I saw him for review at the surgery today and his mood has improved and he is not taking any anti-depressants at this time. I hope you will find this information helpful.”
Dr Rehman said he knew Mr Dymond wanted to go on a TV show but did not ask for further details.
Asked if it was “not pertinent” to mention a history of suicidal thoughts in his letter, the GP replied: “I could have mentioned that but the mental health team did not say that he was suicidal.”
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Final message to ex heard on first day
Mr Dymond was found dead on 9 May 2019, a week after filming for The Jeremy Kyle Show.
Following his death, the episode was never aired and the series was later cancelled by ITV.
The inquest opened on Tuesday, with Mr Dymond’s ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan and Mr Dymond’s son, Carl Woolley, giving evidence.
Details of Mr Dymond’s final message to Ms Callaghan were also read in court.
He also left a note for Mr Woolley, the inquest heard. There was no mention of Kyle or the show in the note.
The hearing continues.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
Stars including Beyonce, Eva Longoria and Jamie Lee Curtis have pledged funds to support families affected by the fires in Los Angeles – along with Paris Hilton, who is among those who have lost their homes.
The blazes which erupted in the Pacific Palisades and other areas of the county last week have destroyed thousands of properties and killed at least 24 people.
US reality star and businesswoman Hilton has launched an emergency fund to support families who have been displaced, and kickstarted it with a personal donation of $100,000 dollars (£82,000).
The 43-year-old, who watched her home in Malibu “burn to the ground” as the fires were covered on TV, has also been spending time with animal organisations. She announced on social media that she is fostering a dog whose owners lost their home.
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Paris Hilton posts video of destroyed home
“While I’ve lost my Malibu home, my thoughts are with the countless families who have lost so much more – their homes, cherished keepsakes, the communities they loved, and their sense of stability,” Hilton said in a statement on social media.
Beyonce contributed $2.5m to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund, created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD.
“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centres to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” the organisation said in a statement.
Pic: AP/Noah Berger
Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles lost her bungalow in Malibu in the fires.
“It was my favourite place, my sanctuary, my sacred happy place,” she wrote on Instagram. “Now it is gone. God Bless all the brave men and women in our fire department who risked their lives in dangerous conditions.”
Other celebrities who have donated funds include Desperate Housewives star Longoria and her foundation, the Screen Actors Guild, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, and Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family – who have all pledged $1m (£819,000) each.
Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have donated clothing, children’s items and other essential supplies, and were seen making a surprise visit to hand out food to evacuees in Pasadena.
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Actors Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal, Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg are also among the Hollywood stars confirmed to have lost homes, along with talk show host Ricki Lake, and reality stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt.
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Ricki Lake shared on Instagram the moment flames got to her property in Malibu
The fires, which are burning around Los Angeles, come at the start of Hollywood’s awards season.
Organisers of the Oscars have postponed the nominations announcement twice, with the shortlists currently set to be revealed on 23 January, and the event’s annual luncheon ahead of the ceremony has been cancelled.
The show itself is still set to go ahead on 2 March. The Grammys, scheduled for 2 February, is also reportedly still set to go ahead.
Entertainment
Actors who sheltered in Ukraine’s Mariupol theatre bring story of bombing to the stage
The Donetsk theatre in the city of Mariupol was supposed to be a place of safety for hundreds of civilians sheltering during the first few weeks of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. A sign bearing the word “children” was marked on the ground outside, visible from the air.
On 16 March 2022, the building was bombed. Authorities at the time said about 300 people had died, although some estimates were higher.
The stories of survivors are now being recounted by actors who were among those sheltering in the theatre at the time. Mariupol Drama, a play which opens in the UK this week, features real video footage captured on their phones, and personal items saved from the rubble.
A warning that children were sheltering inside the theatre was visible from the skies. Pic: Maxar Technologies
Olena Bila and her partner Ihor Kytrysh, who have acted at the theatre since 2003, managed to escape the devastation with their son, Matvii.
“This is a story with a lot of memories from a previous life,” Olena tells Sky News from Ukraine, speaking through a translator. “We worked and lived in Mariupol and did what we loved. In a few days, we lost everything.”
The family also lost their home. Olena says she hopes the play shows that material possessions are not what’s important.
“We lost the material side of our lives. We want to show for everybody that all items around you, the material side of your life, doesn’t matter… it’s your mind, it’s your soul, it’s your heart [that does].”
The theatre was bombed in March 2022
The couple also hope the production will remind people, almost three years on from the start of Russia’s invasion, that the war is still ongoing.
“We are still at war,” Olena says. “It’s our stories, real stories. Not Hollywood fiction, but a story of real people in Ukraine.
“It’s very hard to see that this war is still continuing. We still have no room for our plans for the future.”
After the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the theatre, in the city’s Tsentralnyi district, became a hub for the distribution of medicine, food and water, and a designated gathering point for people hoping to be evacuated from Mariupol via humanitarian corridors.
Personal items saved from the theatre are used on stage in the play. Pic: Tiberi Shiutiv
The building was attacked after weeks of Russian fire on Mariupol.
Vira Lebedynska, the theatre’s head of music and drama, is also one of the performers in Mariupol Drama. When the bombs hit, she was sheltering in an underground room used for music recording which remained mostly untouched, she says.
It saved her.
Russia denied bombing the building deliberately. Following their own investigation, Amnesty International described the attack as a war crime.
British actor David MacCreedy heard about Mariupol Drama and met the actors during an aid trip to Ukraine and says he was struck “by just how powerful it was”. He has been instrumental in bringing the story to the UK.
“It needed to be seen here,” he says.
The play’s actors want to show that despite the destruction of the building, Mariupol’s theatre is still alive.
“Our theatre is fighting,” says Olena.”It is restored not to cry, but to fight.”
Mariupol Drama is on at the Home performing arts centre in Manchester from today until Saturday.
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