Accused says partner jumped from fourth-floor flat

A man accused of throwing his girlfriend from a tower block has told his trial that she jumped out of the window.

Jordan Herring, 22, from Solihull, denies attempted murder by allegedly "throwing" his 18-year-old partner from his mother's flat on the fourth floor at Merton House in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, on 12 November 2022.

She suffered a collapsed lung and fractures to her pelvis, spine and ribs.

Herring said they had both smoked "a couple of joints each" and had started arguing about 10 minutes before the fall, about trust and alleged cheating - a common occurrence he added.

"It was a verbal argument, it wasn't loud, we weren't screaming and shouting," he told the jury.

"She got on to the window sill and that's when she started screaming and tells me she was going to climb out of the window."

When asked if she told him why she was going to get up on the window sill, he said "no".

"I didn't say anything, I just stood up and tried to grab her but I didn't."

Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court heard the victim had a history of self-harming behaviours like pinching herself and pulling her hair out.

Herring told the jury he remembered seeing her lying on the ground and "not thinking it's real".

"I thought it was a dream and feeling emotional," he told the court.

"I was scared to go out, I didn't know what I was going to find."

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: "I didn't want to be the first one out, I didn't want to go out there and see it. I was shocked, just woken up and I'm stoned.

"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 999.

The court was earlier told it was more than an hour after the incident that emergency services were called by his mother.

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.

On Wednesday the court heard a recording of the 999 call by the defendant's mother, in which she said she should have called for an ambulance earlier, adding that she was scared her son was going to "get a knife and kill" his girlfriend.

Herring denied holding a knife at any point or preventing his mother from calling emergency services sooner.

The court heard he normally lived with his grandmother, but had gone to his mother's address to avoid his partner's family - they had previously turned up there because of marks on her face.

Jurors were told the victim had two black eyes at the time.

"I didn't want to have to deal with her family," Herring said.

"At that time I was on probation and had about 16 months left - I was not trying to go back to jail."

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