Jeremy Kyle denies humiliating TV guest who 'took his own life' seven days after filming

Jeremy Kyle has defended his presenting style at an inquest into the death of a man who had been a guest on his chat show, saying "it was direct, but it was empathetic, it was honest".

Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is believed to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019.

Mr Kyle told Winchester Coroner's Court that clips from the programme featuring the case of Mr Dymond and his partner, Jane Callaghan, showed he had "de-escalated... calmed it down". He also denied encouraging the audience to take against 63-year-old Mr Dymond, telling the inquest: "Not at all I asked them to give them a round of applause."

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Mr Dymond had taken a lie detector test for the programme after being accused of cheating on Miss Callaghan, from Gosport, Hampshire. The court was shown a number of clips from the show, including Mr Kyle telling Mr Dymond: "Be a man, grow a pair of balls and tell her the goddam truth."

Another featured the presenter asking "has anyone got a shovel?" as Mr Dymond attempted to explain why he had been messaging another woman. A further clip showed Mr Kyle saying: "The studio thought you were telling the truth, I wouldn't trust you with a chocolate button, mate."

The presenter explained that he felt he had a "double security blanket" of the checks carried out by his production team and a GP letter to reassure him that Mr Dymond had been an appropriate guest for the show. Mr Kyle said he had not been given any guidance by the production or aftercare teams that he should "modify" his presenting style for Mr Dymond.

Rachel Spearing, counsel