Footage shown in court shows the 18-year-old’s body ‘bounce off’ the ground after Jordan Herring allegedly hurled her from the fourth floor before walking downstairs like he ‘didn’t care’
A teenage girl was allegedly hurled from a fourth-floor window by her boyfriend in an attempt to murder her, a court has heard. The 18-year-old plummeted over 37 feet at Merton House in Chelmsley Wood.
The jury was shown harrowing CCTV footage from the flat block, capturing her body bouncing off the grass verge below. The footage also showed her “abusive and controlling” boyfriend, Jordan Herring, allegedly nonchalantly descending the stairs as if he “didn’t care,” before he and his mother lifted the girl, wrapped her in a red blanket, and carried her back upstairs.
It was reportedly more than an hour before emergency services were alerted to the incident which happened at around 11.22pm on 12 November 2022. Herring, 22 from Solihull, is currently on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, where he denies attempted murder.
Prosecutor Jamie Scott, opening the case yesterday (Monday), stated: “The distance between the fourth floor of a block of flats and the ground is 11.4 metres – in another metric just over 37 feet, reports Birmingham Live.
“That’s how far this man’s girlfriend fell when he threw her out of the window.”
He claimed that the 18-year-old had “endured an abusive and violent relationship” with Herring throughout 2022, which included him locking her in the bedroom, scrutinising her phone, and assaulting her.
Mr Scott alleged that Herring had ‘violently beaten’ his girlfriend in the days leading up to the fall, leaving her “battered and bruised” with two black eyes and throat bruises.
He declared that he then chose to “shield her from view,” initially by bringing her to his grandmother’s residence.
The jury heard the girl’s family grew worried and contacted police, leading Herring to transport her to his mother, Kerrie-Anne Grogan’s flat at Merton House on November 11 that year.
Mr Scott explained the pair arrived “under the cover of darkness” with the teenager hiding her wounds by wearing two hoods.
He then revealed Herring “premeditated” the choice to hurl her from the window of the flat’s spare room, by removing the curtain pole and unlocking the safety catch inside the window frame to fully open it.
The jury viewed CCTV footage of the teenager plummeting to the ground at 11.22pm on November 12. Mr Scott said: “She survived that fall but with serious injuries.
“She didn’t remember the fall itself when she was asked to recall what had happened. What she did remember was Jordan Herring grabbing her before she fell.
“He held her near the window and said, ‘I will throw you out, I will kill you’. That’s precisely, we say, what he then did and what he was trying to do. He was trying to kill her.”
He informed the court that Herring then roused his mother to “elicit her help to collect the body.”
The prosecutor continued: “Mr Herring didn’t call an ambulance. CCTV you are about to watch showed him strolling down the stairs towards the bottom floor.
“Her injuries were life-threatening and he looked like he didn’t care. The pair of them, mother and son, covered her body – because she was unclothed – in a blanket and bundled her back up the stairs.”
Ms Grogan called emergency services at 12.44am in a “panic” and saying the teenager was “dying,” the court heard.
Mr Scott said her attitude “changed” when Herring left the flat while she was still on the call.
“She said she had tried to call for help earlier but Jordan Herring wouldn’t let her. He had a knife.
“In other words, for an hour after he pushed (the girl) out of the window, he then did his best to ensure she died of those injuries before eventually allowing his mother to make the call.”
The teenager was rushed to hospital by air ambulance, needed a blood transfusion and help breathing. Her lungs had collapsed, her spleen was torn, she suffered a gash to her liver, whilst her ribs, backbone and pelvis were fractured.
Herring was “aggressive” towards officers when they arrived at the scene, said Mr Scott, who added: “He claimed he had had an argument with her about cheating before she voluntarily jumped out of the window.”
The jury was told that Herring was found guilty of coercive and controlling behaviour against the teenager following an earlier trial.
The trial continues.