Thug who threw teen girlfriend from tower block window laughs as decide jails him

Jordan Herring pushed his teenage girlfriend Bobbie Goodman from a fourth-floor tower block window at Merton House in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, leaving her with life-changing injuries

A brute who shoved his teenage girlfriend from a tower block window smirked as he was locked up. Jordan Herring was labelled a “dangerous” individual and was condemned for his complete lack of remorse or understanding regarding the horrific incident at Merton House in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull in November 2022.

High on cannabis and paranoid about suspected infidelity, the then 19-year-old forced partner Bobbie Goodman, then 18, from the fourth floor window, causing her to plummet 40 feet.

Horrifying CCTV footage showed her hitting the ground, but fortunately she landed on a grass verge rather than the concrete path just a couple of feet away.

Ms Goodman still sustained life-altering injuries and has been left deeply traumatised, Birmingham Crown Court heard today, Monday, 13 April, reports Birmingham Live.

Herring, now 22, from Solihull, was found guilty of unlawful wounding but was acquitted of the more serious charges of attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

He had also been convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour towards Ms Goodman at an earlier trial, having cut her off from her family, trapped her in a bedroom, searched through her phone and attacked her in the lead-up to the tower block incident.

He was handed five years custody in total with an extended one-year licence.

Herring, who has since become a father, raised five fingers on his hand as he turned and gestured to his new partner and grandmother in the public gallery. The latter has raised him during a chaotic childhood, the court heard.

Herring threw his head back and let out a muted laugh in apparent disbelief as Judge Simon Drew condemned his conduct since the incident.

The judge determined he effectively wielded the tower block as a ‘highly dangerous weapon’ and stated: “I’m satisfied, I regret to say, you do represent a risk.

“I’m not saying you will offend but as I am sure you understand I have a public duty.

“You still deny pushing Bobbie. Your pre-sentence report (PSR) makes clear you minimise your own behaviour within the controlling and coercive offending and you have, even now, limited insight into really what’s taken place and why you offend.

“In your PSR there is minimal remorse and a pattern of externalising blame.”

Judge Drew continued: “It is also clear you are still taking drugs in prison.

“The conclusion of the author of the PSR is your risk of serious harm within the community is assessed as very high, I agree.

“You are a dangerous offender and it is necessary to impose an extended sentence.”

He received 12 months for coercive and controlling behaviour and will have to serve half of that before beginning his four-year custodial term for unlawful wounding, of which he must serve two thirds before release on extended licence.

Herring had previously received a custodial sentence for knifing someone outside a pub while aged 16, in April 2020, an incident during which he was also stabbed.

He began a relationship with Ms Goodman in February 2022 and within months she had moved into Herring’s grandmother’s house with him.

However, he quickly became possessive towards her amid infidelity allegations from both sides.

His cannabis consumption only heightened his paranoia. Later that year Herring became violent and caused bruising to Ms Goodman’s eyes and neck.

In a bid to conceal her from her family, who had grown increasingly worried, he fled with her.

Initially he stayed at a friend’s factory before moving to his mother Kerrie-Anne Grogan’s flat at Merton House.

The judge described the latter as an act of particular ‘desperation’ given his troubled relationship with her.

On 12 November 2022 Herring and Ms Goodman smoked cannabis and argued at the flat before he forced her towards the window, threatened to kill her and ultimately pushed her out.

Ms Goodman sustained two collapsed lungs, broken ribs, pelvis and spine as well as a split to her spleen and cut to her liver.

The next thing she recalled was awakening in hospital where she needed multiple operations.

In a heartbreaking statement she said: “I am extremely lucky to be alive and to be honest I have no idea how I have survived what happened to me.” She lauded her supportive family for aiding her recovery but detailed ongoing issues with sleep, walking, standing and trusting others.

Ms Goodman stated: “Looking back on the relationship with Jordan I now realise I was constantly controlled and not allowed to do the things I should have been allowed to do as a young woman.

“I will never let that happen again. Not only did the relationship ruin my life it caused problems with my family which should never have happened.”

She further described how he made her feel ‘worthless and empty’, adding she already had a fear of heights before her terrifying fall from the tower.

CCTV from the tower block also showed Herring taking three minutes to casually walk down the stairs before picking up Ms Goodman and taking her back into the flat.

However, he threatened his mother with a knife to stop her from calling emergency services, which she ultimately didn’t do for one hour and 20 minutes.

Herring then lied to the police, claiming Ms Goodman jumped from the window in a suicide attempt.

Nicholas Berry, defending Herring, told the court he had issues with his maturity and other aspects of his character which had been ‘forged by his background’.

He said: “He had a significantly difficult childhood marked with being surrounded with and exposed to considerable parental trauma and abuse, including drugs, alcohol and chronic domestic abuse.

“Some of the past characteristics of life which became normalised in his eyes have endured within him.

“It is hardly surprising he has been a young man who struggled with his ability to trust and maintain emotional regulation within relationships.”

Mr Barry further stated that Herring had attended violence awareness classes while incarcerated and aspired to set a ‘positive example’ for his child.