Inquest into death of The Jeremy Kyle Show guest Stephen Dymond is delayed due to bereavement

The inquest into the death of a man who died of an overdose after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show has been adjourned following a family bereavement.

The four-day hearing into the death of 63-year-old Steve Dymond had been expected to start today (Monday) but has been postponed following a request by Mr Dymond's family.

Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg told a short hearing held at Winchester that he had been informed by Mr Dymond's brother Leslie Dymond and son Carl Woolley of the death of their mother/grandmother.

He said she had died on March 11 and the date for her funeral was Tuesday, March 29, which would have been the second day of the inquest.

Mr Pegg told the Winchester hearing: "Their state of grief would distract their minds and their ability to focus on the hearing. I am content to adjourn the inquest on grounds of compassion."

He added: "In the interests of justice, an interested person must be able to engage with the inquest process, especially the brother and son who represent the interests of the deceased."

He continued: "I offer my condolences to Mr Woolley and Mr Dymond and the wider family at their time of loss."

Mr Pegg said that the family had also provided an additional request for the adjournment following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary earlier this month into the circumstances of Mr Dymond's death.

Turning down this part of the request, he said: "There are no matters in the Channel 4 documentary that would give grounds for adjourning the inquest.

"I find there is sufficient evidence already to answer the four questions of who, when, where and how he came about his death."

Mr Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is suspected to have died from suicide seven days after filming for the ITV programme in May 2019.

He had taken a lie detector test after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport.

Mr Dymond died of a morphine overdose and heart problem at his home in Portsmouth, a previous preliminary hearing of the inquest was told in 2020.

At the time, Mr Pegg said Jeremy Kyle had called Mr Dymond a "serial liar" and said he "would not trust him with a chocolate button".

The coroner said Mr Kyle would be an interested party at the inquest because "he may have caused or contributed" to Mr Dymond's death.

Mr Pegg said today that Mr Kyle had been informed of the hearing and the planned adjournment but he and his legal representatives had chosen not to attend the administrative hearing either in person or by video-link.

Mr Pegg said the earliest date for the resumption of the inquest would be in October but no date had yet been set.