Jeremy Kyle experienced the most shocking story of his chat show career as he tried to heal a family devastated by murder on today’s programme.
Ashley Dighton was decapitated and his body brutally mutilated over a decade ago in Ashford, Kent – and ITV viewers were horrified when his sister Shouni blamed their father for his grisly death.
No one has ever been charged with the 19-year-old’s murder after his headless body was found under branches in woodland a month following his disappearance.
Read more: Jeremy Kyle walks off set after bitter comparison to This Morning
Last seen in a shopping centre in 2007, Ashley’s family has been desperate for the truth surrounding his fate – but despite numerous arrest and appeals for information and multiple arrests, police have not tracked down his killer.
“My brother went missing and he wasn’t reported until later on,” said Shouni, before describing in graphic detail the awful end to Ashley’s life.
She continued: “He was found in a brutal way. He had no head. His head was taken off.
“He basically had no fingertips. He had no rib either.”
Through tears, Shouni blamed “childhood experiences” for her brother falling in with a “wrong crowd”.
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Slamming her dad Ambrose, she claimed: “Basically when I and Ashley were younger we were physically, mentally and emotionally abused.
“He used to chuck Ashley out of the house all the time. He never gave us kisses or cuddles.”
Shouni continued: “He had no affection for him. I remember an incident where he [Ashley] pulled out a knife and told him [Ambrose] to stab him because he never loved him.”
The 25-year-old insisted her father bore some responsibility for Ashley’s death, suggesting Ambrose had let his son down.
Replying to a query asking if she was just lashing out through grief, she said: “No – I do blame him.”
She added: “You have to be a role model, your kids look up to you. If you don’t do that cracks start to form like mental health and you go down the wrong path like alcohol and drugs.”
Ambrose, however, said he was a “good father” and denied receiving payment from a magazine in connection with the case.
He also said he still grieves for his murdered son and was never physically abusive to his children, dismissing Shouni’s allegations.
“I’ve come here because of the lies she’s been telling about me that are not true,” he said.
“There are nights or days when I’m indoors and I’ll hear a certain record on the radio and I’m in tears. Sometimes when I go to bed I cry myself to sleep.”
Although Jeremy described Ambrose as being “cold and lacking any emotion”, the host encouraged both father and daughter to work together to uncover the truth.
He said: “The one thing you share is you have an understandable desire to get justice for Ashley.
“She’s crying out for you to be more involved, he’s crying out for you to understand that he might not have been great but he’s not responsible for the heinous thing that happened to your brother.
“I would have thought the very least that Ashley deserves is for the two of you to somehow work together to get him that justice.”
He added: “You both suffered the most awful loss. You both have lashed out as I’m sure one does.”
And as Shouni and Ambrose left the stage, Jeremy reflected: “I don’t think I’ve ever done a more shocking story and been left more cold by the answers.”
A Kent Police spokesman told Kent Live: “The case remains unsolved and, as with all undetected cases, Kent Police will actively investigate any new lines of enquiry.
“A single point of contact has been working with the victim’s family and officers remain keen to hear any new information relating to this case.”
Many viewers criticised the decision to include the tragic row on early morning TV.
#JeremyKyle is NOT the place for stories like this
— The Evil Skeletor (@MrEvilSkeletor) March 15, 2018
This is not the right place for this #jeremykyle
— LouInWonderland (@ItsLouiseee_xo) March 15, 2018
A terrible, terrible story, but this is altogether *way* too dark for what the Jeremy Kyle Show has recently turned into … #jeremykyle
— VoiceOfTheMysterons (@Mysteron_Voice) March 15, 2018
Well this is a bit much for an daytime entertainment show, very brave but not for me #JeremyKyle
— Nicolalalala (@nwithey101) March 15, 2018
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The Jeremy Kyle Show is on ITV, weekdays from 9.25am.