Jordan Herring, 22, threw Bobbie Goodman, 18, from a fourth-floor window in Solihull after a cannabis-fuelled jealous rage in November 2022
A man who hurled his girlfriend from a fourth-floor tower block window in a jealous fury before telling police she had jumped has been sentenced to five years behind bars.
Despicable Jordan Herring, 22, threw Bobbie Goodman, 18, from the window of his mother’s high-rise flat in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, West Midlands. Chilling CCTV footage captured the harrowing moment the teenager plunged almost 40ft (12.2m) to the ground from Merton House at 11.22pm on November 12, 2022.
Bobbie sustained a collapsed lung, shattered pelvis, broken ribs and a smashed spine, spending a month in intensive care and several more in a wheelchair – but remarkably pulled through.
A court heard Herring flew into a cannabis-fuelled rage after interrogating Bobbie about Snapchat messages on her phone with other men. Prosecutor Jamie Scott said that prior to the horrific fall, Herring had assaulted Bobbie on two separate occasions while also quizzing her about messages from other men on her phone.
“It appears that this offence was provoked through Herring’s cannabis consumption and his violent jealousy,” he said, reports the Mirror.
The court was told Herring had taken Bobbie to Merton House, where his mother Kerrie-Anne Grogan lived, to evade the teenager’s worried family who had been searching for her. On arrival, she was already “battered and bruised” with two black eyes and marks to her neck.
Herring forced her to hide her injuries by wearing two hoodies. She informed officers Herring held her close to the window and threatened ‘I will throw you out, I will kill you’ but she couldn’t recall what took place directly after that.
Herring was subsequently captured on CCTV “strolling” down the staircase, with his mother behind him, lifting the teenager from the grass verge where she’d landed, wrapping her in a blanket before carrying her back upstairs. It took more than an hour before emergency services were contacted and Bobbie was airlifted to hospital in a critical state where she needed a blood transfusion.
Herring had insisted his girlfriend had climbed through the window herself and fell following an argument about allegations of infidelity.
Herring, from Solihull, was previously found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm but acquitted of attempted murder at Birmingham Crown Court. He had earlier been convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour against the same victim after a separate trial.
During sentencing, Judge Simon Drew KC, described Herring as a “dangerous offender” and additionally extended his licence period by a year. He stated: “You started a relationship with the victim in February 2022. At the time she was 17 and you were 18.
“You had recently been released from a prison sentence and you were living with your grandmother and in April 2022 she moved in to live with you. From the evidence I have heard she became increasingly withdrawn from her family.
“It is clear you began to exercise increasing control over her and her life. She had become dependent on you. In October 2022 you started to check her mobile phone. There were suspicions both ways in relation to contact with others. You were repeatedly verbally and physically abusive towards her.
“It seems her family by early November had become increasingly concerned about her.”
Judge Drew stated that on the evening in question, the accused had locked the teenager inside a bedroom at the flat, and that he’d been smoking cannabis which had triggered paranoia. He continued: “You were at times arguing about cheating. She has no recollection of you throwing her out of the window.
“I have seen the CCTV footage and it is a pretty shocking piece of footage. She falls something in the order of 40ft from the fourth floor. She was fortunate to hit the grass area and not the pavement only a few feet away from where she landed. You can see her bounce.
“You made no attempt to give her first aid and you tried to cover up what had taken place. You tried to coerce her into lying about what had happened.”
In a victim impact statement, Bobbie, now 21, said: “What Herring did to me has affected me in many ways. I am extremely lucky to be alive. To be honest I have no idea how I survived what happened to me.
“I am lucky to have a loving family around me to help me with my injuries and rehabilitation. I realised I was constantly controlled. I am in constant pain with my back and pelvis. He made me feel worthless and empty and had total control of my life. I woke up in hospital not knowing what had happened. I have always been afraid of heights.”
Nicholas Berry, defending, said: “He had a significantly difficult childhood. He was exposed to considerable parental trauma, drugs and alcohol. He has struggled with anger, paranoid thoughts and drug use and an inability to process his emotions.”
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