The housing association worker shook her head and cried as she was jailed for “making his life a living hell”
Kimberley Goodings, formerly of Stanley Street, aged 56(Image: Merseyside Police)
A mum’s lies led to her ex-boyfriend being banned from every Costa Coffee in the country as she “made his life a living hell”. Kimberley Goodings was warned to stop contacting her former partner after holding a knife to his face while accusing him of being unfaithful.
But the housing association worker instead went on to subject him to a campaign of harassment which even saw her chase him around a retail park while accusing him of being a sex offender. A judge today told her that she had “displayed very little remorse or insight” into her crimes, leaving her shaking her head and crying as she was jailed.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Goodings had been in a relationship with David Rimmer for around 12 months, although this ended in the weeks before August 31 last year. With the couple having continued to live together, on that evening, the 56-year-old defendant was said to have become abusive towards her partner and accused him of having an affair.
Derek Jones, prosecuting, described how Goodings continued to shout and scream, including making a threat to slit his throat, over the coming hours, before Mr Rimmer was sitting on a sofa in the living room in the early hours. She then began “pacing up and down the room” with a kitchen knife in her hand before raising the weapon and lunging towards him.
Goodings held the blade around 1cm away from his face and screamed “I’m going to f***ing kill her”, leaving him fearing that he was going to be stabbed. She, however, dropped the article before placing both of her hands around his neck, subsequently hitting him to the head and body.
Having been warned that he “wasn’t allowed to leave, otherwise she would stab him”, Mr Rimmer was ultimately able to escape the property at around 3am. But Goodings chased and shouted after him at this stage, leading to him returning home.
After being left “scared all night”, Mr Rimmer called the police the following day. Following his now estranged girlfriend’s arrest, she was ultimately released on bail under conditions not to contact her partner.
But Goodings, formerly of Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre, then began bombarding Mr Rimmer with a string of emails “almost immediately” before approaching him at Liverpool Shopping Park on Edge Lane on one occasion in October 2025 while he was visiting Costa Coffee. She was said to have told him “how can a big bad biker be afraid of a little woman?” before following him around the retail park while screaming: “You f****** rapist.”
Sixty-year-old Mr Rimmer called the police in tears as a result, while Goodings falsely claimed to staff at the branch of Costa, where he was a regular visitor, that he was a convicted sex offender. Mr Jones detailed how this led to him being banned from the premises and “in fact, from the whole of the Costa Coffee network throughout the country”.
Goodings continued to message Mr Rimmer via Instagram and accused him of engaging in bestiality during a series of social media posts. In a statement which was read to the court on his behalf, he detailed how the “stress caused him to lose four stone”, while he was also left suffering from flashbacks of the incident with the knife.
Mr Rimmer added that he had been left “traumatised” by the relationship, stating that Goodings had “made his life a living hell”. She has some previous convictions for offences including thefts from shops, but none since 2008.
Goodings later undertook a university degree and secured work with a housing association, with Brendan Carville, defending, telling the court: “The defendant is clearly a very emotional lady. This relationship, over the year, was not all one sided in a sense of abuse or controlling and coercive behaviour. She, equally, says that the defendant was controlling and coercive towards her.
“She is a lady who, for the past 17 years, has not been in trouble. Although she had problems with heroin when she was younger, she has no convictions for violence on her record.
“She gave up her home in Teeside to come to live with Mr Rimmer. Mr Rimmer welcomed her into his home. For a year, they were together. There does not appear to be any complaint until the end of the relationship.
“She has probably served the equivalent of a one-year prison sentence already. Her goal is to go and live with her daughter. She lives in Bolton, and she is willing to have her mother come and live with her.
“Given her background and the way that she has rehabilitated herself over the years, she clearly has some ability. She has ample opportunities to rebuild her life. All I ask, please, is for you to give her a chance in the guise of a suspended prison sentence.”
Goodings, who was seen shaking her head throughout the hearing, admitted stalking involving serious alarm or distress, making threats with a bladed article in a private place and assault by beating. Appearing via video link to HMP Styal with shoulder length blonde hair and wearing a white blouse and glasses, she was locked up for 28 months.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: “The offence of threatening him with a bladed article is a very serious matter. It is a dangerous weapon. Any knife is a dangerous weapon, and this one, clearly, was a significant article.
“You brandished it. You threatened him with it. You went right up to his face with the blade in the agitated state that you clearly were in. That must have been terrifying for him.
“On bail for those serious matters, you then set about a campaign, in reality, of abusing him in public in a variety of places, posting messages about him, referring to him being a rapist, someone involved in bestiality, having an interest in young girls. It was highly distressing for him and led to him being banned from the coffee outlet which he had a habit of frequenting.
“His statement refers to ongoing sleep deprivation, the loss of 4st in weight, ongoing flashbacks, medication for his problems and anxiety going about with his normal routine. So, very considerable distress and anxiety and an impact on him.
“While I cannot deal with you as being of good character, the convictions that there are are now historic. There has been a large period of time before you were last before the courts, and there is nothing of comparable seriousness to these present matters.
“It is clear that you continue to dispute much of the prosecution case, but you stand by your guilty pleas. You seem to display very little remorse or insight into what has happened. You were quite vehement to the author of the [pre-sentence] report to justify your actions.
“You were clearly badly affected by the impact of the end of this relationship with Mr Rimmer. You are clearly a person who finds it difficult to control your emotions. At the time, you had been abusing cocaine, it seems.
“You are regarded as being a high risk of serious harm to known adults, effectively, intimate partners. That is a very real danger, as far as your present state is concerned.”
Goodings was also handed a restraining order which will ban her from contacting Mr Rimmer or entering his street in Wavertree for three years. She was seen with her head in her hands and appeared to be in tears as she learned her sentence.