Pair jailed for vicious six-hour attack on vulnerable ‘friend’

A man and woman have been jailed for a brutal and prolonged attack with brooms, bottles and reinforced gloves on a man who considered them his friends.

Jamie Kendrick, 30, and Jodie Goble, 32, were given four and a half years and two and a half years respectively for their part in the six-hour assault on Carl Willingham.

Goble, of Haig Avenue, Brighton, was sentenced on Thursday, December 16 – but Kendrick refused to appear as his two-year-old son was visiting him in prison.

The following day, he appeared via videolink at Chichester Crown Court.

Prosecuting, Oliver Doherty said both Kendrick and Goble had been drinking heavily and taking drugs, probably spice, when the attack happened.

He said: “Carl Willingham was the victim of a brutal assault by Jamie Kendrick, an attack which took place over several hours in his own home.

“It’s not clear what the motivation for the attack was.

“Kendrick led the attack on him, he started the attack and he continued it, encouraging Goble to hit Mr Willingham, asking him ‘Do you want me to keep attacking you, or do you want Jodie to do it?'”

Mr Willingham, who still referred to the pair as his friends during October’s trial, was left with broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken nose and a bleed on his skull.

Kendrick pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm in February, but denied false imprisonment. Goble denied grievous bodily harm and false imprisonment.

She was convicted of the former charge but acquitted of the second. The CPS offered no evidence of false imprisonment for Kendrick.

Defending, Tom Nicholson Pratt said: “The greatest mitigation is undoubtedly his guilty plea, at an early opportunity.

“He also wishes to convey his remorse and shock. Carl Willingham was someone he was friendly with and he spent time with and got on with.

“To hear the details of the case, he was desperately shocking and saddened by what happened.”

He said Kendrick had little or no memory of the evening, something which was possibly linked to his epilepsy.

And he said that since being on remand, he had become a model prisoner, and had been selected to help settle in new prisoners.

Sentencing, Recorder David Brock said: “You punched, kicked and hit him over his head with and body with a piece of metal.

“You punched him with a reinforced glove.

“The battering lasted something in the region of five to six hours.

“At times you asked him to choose between you hitting him or Jodie Goble, no doubt to give yourself a rest from the ongoing assault.

“The attack only came to an end when a neighbour called the police at 11pm.”

Both Kendrick and Goble were also given a restraining order forbidding them from contacting Mr Willingham. Goble was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £156 and Kendrick £181.