Tower block fall accused guilty of GBH

A man accused of throwing his girlfriend from a tower block has been found guilty of grievous bodily harm.

Jordan Herring, 22, from Solihull, was cleared of a charge of attempted murder at Birmingham Crown Court.

Jurors had previously heard how the 18-year-old victim had fallen from his mother's flat on the fourth floor at Merton House in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull in November 2022. They also heard it took an hour for a 999 call to be made.

The 18-year-old was airlifted to hospital with a collapsed lung and fractures to her pelvis, spine and ribs. Herring is expected to be sentenced on 13 April.

The jury was told that Herring had been convicted of coercive and controlling behaviour towards the teenager following a previous trial.

On the night of the fall Herring's mother made a distraught 999 call to summon emergency services.

Kerrie-Anne Grogan's call heard her claim: "I couldn't call the ambulance... I should've done it ages ago but he's my son.

"I'm scared he's gonna get a knife and kill her."

It was more than an hour after the incident that emergency services were called, the jury was told.

Herring told the court the pair had a "toxic" relationship and on the night the pair got into an argument about cheating.

He had claimed the victim threatened to jump out of the window before throwing herself out of it.

CCTV footage was show to the jury of the defendant walking down the stairs of the tower block to reach the victim.

When asked why he did not run to her aid, he said he did not want to be the first one out.

"In my head, I don't think I'm walking like that [and] it looks like I didn't care, but it's not the case, I do care."

The jury heard Herring had then picked up his partner and carried her back up the stairs to his mother's flat, rather than calling emergency services.

The defendant said his own phone did not have a sim card and was unable to make calls.

Herring said he had struggled to find his mother's phone and thought about 30 minutes had passed before medics were called, not more than an hour.

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