‘Emmerdale’ Star Lesley Dunlop Appears in Court After Admitting Guilt

Emmerdale star Les­ley Dun­lop has appeared in court after plead­ing guilty to two charges. The actress, best known for her long-run­ning role as Bren­da Walk­er in the ITV soap, was present as pro­ceed­ings con­tin­ued in con­nec­tion with the case.

As she was faced with two traf­fic charges, includ­ing exceed­ing the speed lim­it, Les­ley could have end­ed up with six points on her licence plus a £1000 fine and a short dri­ving ban. But for­tu­nate­ly, the judge was more leni­ant than that.

Emmerdale star Les­ley Dun­lop appears in court on traf­fic charges

Accord­ing to  Les­ley was accused of dri­ving 67mph in a 50mph speed lim­it on the M606 in Brad­ford in Decem­ber 2024. Then in March 2025, she alleged­ly failed to pro­vide details of the dri­ver of the same vehi­cle. This is a breach of the Road Traf­fic Act.

After appear­ing at West York­shire Mag­is­trates’ Court, she entered a guilty plea. Les­ley was then hand­ed four points on her licence and a £222 fine.

After 16 years in the Dales, Les­ley Dun­lop bowed out of Emmerdale ear­li­er this year. Her char­ac­ter, Bren­da Walk­er, set sail on a cruise in April with step­daugh­ter Cathy Hope.

How­ev­er, it soon became clear that Brenda’s depar­ture was more per­ma­nent than any­one expect­ed. She lat­er sent a let­ter to ex-part­ner Eric Pol­lard, reveal­ing she wouldn’t be return­ing. Bren­da went on to sell her shares in the local café to Lewis Bar­ton.

Brenda’s exit fol­lowed a tur­bu­lent peri­od in her rela­tion­ship with Eric. In a dev­as­tat­ing betray­al, he had tak­en all of her sav­ings and poured them into a fraud­u­lent invest­ment scheme, los­ing the lot. When the truth came out, Eric con­fessed that his reck­less behav­iour had been fuelled by side effects from his Parkinson’s med­ica­tion. Those same impul­sive urges had led him to pro­pose to Bren­da.

For Bren­da, the rev­e­la­tions were too much to bear. Heart­bro­ken, she moved into the B&B to make a fresh start.

Then, when for­tune came call­ing in the form of a round-the-world cruise, Bren­da seized the chance to leave her trou­bles behind. Though she ini­tial­ly promised to return, it seems her voy­age became a new begin­ning.

At the time her exit was revealed, it was hint­ed the deci­sion had not been made by Les­ley her­self. A source told The Mir­ror: “The show has grown a lot big­ger in recent years but soaps are expen­sive to make. It’s inevitable sav­ing mon­ey means los­ing peo­ple – but it’s a huge shame all the same for those involved, their friends and col­leagues.”