JEREMY Kyle "may have caused or contributed” to the death of a TV show guest, a coroner has said after making the host an "interested person" for the inquest.

Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg has made Jeremy Kyle an “interested person” for the inquest into the death of his TV show guest Steve Dymond, stating that the presenter “may have caused or contributed” to his death, during a pre-inquest review in Winchester.

Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymond was “extremely distressed” by his experience filming for the ITV show, according to documents released by his family’s lawyers in July.

A pre-inquest review in July this year heard that the 63-year-old died of a morphine overdose and a heart problem at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in May 2019 - just seven days after he had filmed for the daytime show.

He had undergone a lie detector test for the programme to show whether he had cheated on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport.

In submissions from Mr Dymond’s family, their counsel Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC stated: “The lie detector test ‘result’ indicated that he was lying when he said he was faithful to his girlfriend, despite him being adamant that he had been faithful.

“Mr Dymond was extremely distressed by his experience at The Jeremy Kyle Show, a programme which has been described by a judge (when sentencing a former contestant) as ‘human bear-baiting’.”

The family also raise the role of Guy Heseltine and his firm UK Lie Test – contracted by ITV – for his role in the filming.

Ms Gallagher states: “In addition, without a detailed understanding of the arrangements made by The Jeremy Kyle Show and individuals working for, or with, the programme to protect the interests of vulnerable guests, it is unclear the extent to which certain aspects of Mr Dymond’s experience were aberrations, or the result of established policies or practices.”