{"id":1189569,"date":"2026-09-06T11:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189569\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:52:14","slug":"stockport-mum-was-drug-driving-when-her-partner-fell-out-of-van-and-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189569\/","title":{"rendered":"Stockport mum was drug driving when her partner fell out of van and died"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stockport mum Emma Foden has been sentenced after David Rhodes’ death\"David<\/p>\n

David Rhodes died when he fell from a van driven by Emma Foden<\/p>\n

A Stockport<\/a> mum was behind the wheel of a van while over the limit for cannabis when her partner fell from the back and died from his injuries – in front of their seven-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n

Emma Foden, 46, had been driving the Peugeot Bippa along Dowbridge in Kirkham, near Blackpool<\/a>, when David Rhodes fell from the back and banged his head on the road. He was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital with severe head injuries, a court<\/a> heard.<\/p>\n

But he died later on October 11 last year, Lancs Live reports<\/a>. Foden has now been sentenced for drug driving in Preston Magistrates’ Court.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to hear the latest from Manchester’s courts in our newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an emotional statement read in court, Rhodes’ loved ones said: “There isn’t a day we don’t think about him.” The court heard an investigation had found Foden was not responsible for the accident.<\/p>\n

A conclusion of misadventure was recorded following an earlier inquest at Preston Coroners’ Court. But following the collision, Foden was tested for alcohol and drugs and was found to be over the legal limit for cannabis.<\/p>\n

Blood readings taken at the police station showed she had 4.2 micrograms per 100 millilitres of blood – the legal limit being 2mcg\/100ml. She pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle while over the specified legal limit of a controlled drug and was handed a nine month community order with 10 rehabilitation days.<\/p>\n

David’s daughter saw him fall<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Peter Bardsley read a victim statement from Mr Rhodes’ sisters Charlotte and Andrea. They said: “There are no words to explain what losing our brother has done to our family. The day he died our hearts were broken and our lives were changed forever.”<\/p>\n

They described David as ‘a cheeky character who was full of life’ and said he deserved to see his daughter grow up. They said David’s daughter had experienced severe trauma as she had not only lost her dad at a young age but also witnessed him fall from the vehicle.<\/p>\n

“Losing her dad in front of her is a trauma that will affect her for the rest of her life,” they said. “It breaks our hearts that she will grow up with memories, photographs and stories instead of having her dad by her side.”<\/p>\n

‘I wasn’t meant to be driving’, Foden says<\/p>\n

Defending, Michael Flynn said Foden had ‘a difficult past’ and had been using her lived experience to work with a charity at HMP Styal’s mother and baby unit. She has also completed work with drug and alcohol services, he said.<\/p>\n

He added there was no evidence Foden’s driving was severely impaired on the day of the tragedy. Magistrates said the case was ‘an emotive case with no winners’. Foden was disqualified from driving for 22 months, from August 2026, and ordered to pay \u00a385 prosecution costs and a \u00a3115 victim surcharge.<\/p>\n

Foden, of Deal Avenue, Stockport<\/a>, said: “I haven’t driven since the incident. I have a child to look after who has lost her dad. This is a very sad accident that occurred. I wasn’t meant to be driving.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stockport mum Emma Foden has been sentenced after David Rhodes’ death David Rhodes died when he fell from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,30,393,4884,1804,2465,1288,16,15],"class_list":["post-1189569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-britain","tag-courts","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-lancashire","tag-manchester","tag-stockport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117223959291350943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}