Man, 35, who lied and said girlfriend’s death was hit and run jailed for her death

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.