Donna Windsor (also Windsor-Dingle) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was originally played by Sophie Jeffery until 1997. Actress Verity Rushworth took over the role in 1998. She made her first appearance in the show on 31 August 1993. Donna departed on 30 January 2009. At the time of her departure, Donna was the third longest running character on Emmerdale. It was announced on 8 January 2014 that Rushworth had decided to reprise her role as Donna for five months. She returned on 19 March 2014 and it was revealed that Donna was terminally ill. Donna committed suicide on 14 August 2014, after throwing herself and Gary North (Fergus O'Donnell) from a multi-storey car park to her death, but made her final appearance the following day, on 15 August 2014.