Mother Formally Declared Hostile Witness in Son's Violent Assault Trial
A Solihull mother whose flat was the scene of a violent incident where a teenager was pushed from a fourth-floor window has been formally declared a hostile witness after deliberately providing untruthful evidence to assist her son.
Kerrie-Anne Grogan became embroiled in the legal proceedings following events at her Merton House flat in Chelmsley Wood on November 12, 2022. Her son, Jordan Herring, was convicted of unlawfully wounding his 18-year-old girlfriend Bobbie Goodman by pushing her from the window, as well as coercive and controlling behaviour.
Dramatic Courtroom Reversal of Testimony
During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Ms Grogan completely reversed her initial account of what happened that night. She had previously told emergency services in a recorded 999 call that Herring had threatened her with a knife and prevented her from calling for help sooner.
However, when called as a prosecution witness, she refuted these claims entirely, blaming her sudden change in story on mental health issues. She provided a new account about hiding her own phone due to paranoia and insisted that Bobbie had "jumped" from the window rather than being pushed.
Judge's Ruling on Deliberate Untruthfulness
Prosecutor Jamie Scott requested that proceedings be halted to raise a legal issue, arguing that Ms Grogan was being "deliberately unhelpful" and had entered court with the intention of providing an account favourable to her son rather than a truthful one.
Judge Simon Drew agreed with the prosecution, stating that Ms Grogan's evidence "directly contradicted" her earlier witness statements and that she was "not desirous of telling the truth." This ruling allowed the prosecution to call her credibility into question during the trial.
Complex Family Dynamics Revealed
The court heard that Ms Grogan and her son had a fraught relationship. Herring described his mother as "embarrassing" and revealed she had not raised him, stating that his grandmother had taken on that role since his birth.
He told the court: "She smokes crack cocaine, drinks, she used to do heroin. She was not a good person to be around growing up." Herring added that his mother was "not somebody you can be proud of" when explaining why he had never previously taken Bobbie to her flat.
Delayed Emergency Response
CCTV evidence presented during the trial showed Ms Grogan following her son down the staircase while carrying a blanket after Bobbie fell approximately 40 feet to the ground. Together they took the seriously injured teenager back upstairs, but more than one hour and twenty minutes passed before emergency services were called.
During the initial 999 call, Ms Grogan expressed fears that her son might "finish Bobbie off" and demanded that police be sent immediately to the scene.
Legal Consequences and Sentencing
Jordan Herring was cleared of attempted murder but convicted of unlawful wounding and coercive and controlling behaviour. He received a five-year prison sentence with an extended one-year licence period.
Defence barrister Nicholas Berry told the sentencing hearing that Herring's character and immaturity had been "forged by his background," describing a childhood marked by "considerable parental trauma and abuse, including drugs, alcohol and chronic domestic abuse."
The case revealed that Ms Grogan had refused to give evidence at her son's initial trial, which resulted in a hung jury on the main charges. She had to be arrested after going missing for several days prior to the retrial.
