A man who initially lied to police by claiming his girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run has been jailed over her death.
Matthew DuPlessis, 35, was given a sentence of nine years and three months’ imprisonment at Chester Crown Court on Friday, Cheshire Constabulary said.
He had admitted at an earlier hearing to perverting the course of justice and causing death by careless driving while unfit through drugs.
Police said DuPlessis and his partner Charlotte Dodd, also 35, had travelled to Blackpool on September 23 2023, before neighbours overheard them arguing later that night.
The couple left Ms Dodd’s home together at 1.30am and continued their argument as they drove around Congleton in DuPlessis’s van.
While on Padbury Lane, Congleton, Ms Dodd exited the van while it was still moving, striking the carriageway and suffering fatal injuries, according to the force.
A passerby stopped his car when he saw her in the road with DuPlessis sat on a grass verge behind her.
The defendant, of Richard Darrock Way in Crewe, told the man there had been a hit and run, police said.
DCI Dave Hutcheon, of the major investigation team, said: “DuPlessis told multiple witnesses at the scene including his own parents, members of the public, paramedics and police at the scene that he and Charlotte were walking along Padgbury Lane having been out drinking and that Charlotte was dancing in the carriageway.”
The officer said DuPlessis had told people that a dark coloured vehicle had struck his girlfriend and fled the scene while he had his back turned.
“We launched a fail to stop investigation at the scene, and the defendant was treated as a witness and later allowed to leave with his parents,” DCI Hutcheon said.
However, an officer attending the scene had recognised DuPlessis’s name and that he drove a white van similar to one that was parked there.
In 2024, the defendant admitted driving with excess cocaine in his body in relation to the incident and was disqualified from driving for three years.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Ms Dodd’s death continued and DuPlessis admitted to police that she had repeatedly threatened to jump out of the vehicle, but did not.
He refused to say how she came to leave the van, police said, but CCTV along Padgbury Lane showed the driver door shut with an interior light on, indicating that the passenger door was open.
DuPlessis told police Ms Dodd had opened the passenger door as she wanted to get out, the force said.
The video showed the van continuing a further 195 metres at an average speed of 19mph.
Forensic analysis found the van was over the centre line of the carriage line as the defendant went to turn left into Arnside Avenue and Ms Dodd left the vehicle at that junction.
Following sentencing Ms Dodd’s family said in a statement that they had “quietly lived through the turmoil, the uncertainty and the heartbreak surrounding the circumstances of Charlotte’s death”.
“We have each carried an indescribable pain of losing our daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece and friend, whilst also watching her two young girls try to come to terms with losing their mummy,” they said.
“It has taken so long to reach a Crown Court sentence hearing,” the statement continued.
“Due to the lies and deception by one person from the very beginning, thereby perverting the course of justice, we still do not know the full truth of what really happened to Charlotte.
“There are no witnesses. There are some questions that remain unanswered, and we will have to live with those questions for the rest of our lives.
“Justice has now been served, yet we do not believe this reflects the enormity of what has been lost and the devastation that Charlotte’s death has caused.
“Charlotte has not been able to live her best life because one person has senselessly taken that life way, stolen her future.
“For us, no custodial sentence or punishment will ever be enough.”
DCI Hutcheon added: “It hasn’t been determined how Charlotte came to leave the van.
“The defendant overshot the junction causing him to perform an emergency stop.
“He then reversed and parked his van on Arnside Avenue and went to Charlotte.
“He then concocted his story to cover up that he was responsible for her death.
“His lies were caught out by the roads policing officer and the detailed forensic analysis of his movements led to him having no option but to plead guilty.”
