THE death of a popular amateur footballer who jumped out of his girlfriend’s car as she was driving him home from the pub was an accident, an inquest has ruled.

Wayne Hodder from Redbridge, Southampton, suffered severe head injuries when he leapt into Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh. He died in hospital three days later.

Wayne’s partner Tereasa had gone to pick up the 31- year-old from The Cricketers pub in Eastleigh because she was worried he was going to go off with another woman, the inquest heard.

She arrived, with her daughter Katie, as Mr Hodder, who had been on a nine-hour pub-crawl, was getting into a taxi with a man and two women.

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The father-of-one instead got into his girlfriend’s Vauxhall Astra but they had not gone far before he jumped out.

Mr Hodder’s death was previously reported in the Echo but details of how he suffered his fatal injuries were revealed at the inquest yesterday.

Tereasa, giving evidence at Winchester Coroner’s Court, said: “I felt a rush of wind come through the car, the back door was open and he said something like ‘I’m getting out’.

“He was just gone. We stopped the car, there’s nothing I could have done to stop him, it was just so quick. We approached Wayne in the road. We were both screaming.”

She said the car was travelling between 30-40mph when the accident happened around 12.30am on Saturday, November 21.

Mr Hodder, a delivery driver for Carlsberg, had been drinking with friends in Eastleigh since around 3.30pm the previous day.

His friend Craig Lawler said the pair were sharing a taxi into Southampton with two Cricketers barmaids when Tereasa pulled up.

He said Mr Hodder – who played for Spartans in the Drew Smith Saturday league – was then intending to get a further cab to his home in Oakridge Road, Redbridge.

Tereasa told the inquest she went looking for Mr Hodder after he failed to answer his phone all evening and had not picked up his six-year-old son Ben from a school disco.

Deputy coroner Simon Burge, recording a verdict of accidental death, said: “Tereasa had become irritated, concerned, angry and panic-stricken as the evening progressed.

“She wanted to find out where he was and, yes, she suspected he was flirting with and was about to go off with another woman.

“She was intending to collect Wayne and take him away from the pub and make sure he did not drive himself home.”