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Philip
John SMITH
Classification:
Spree killer
Characteristics: Police are unsure of a motive for the killings but
believe lack of permanent sexual relationships may have been a factor
Senior detectives from six police forces have met to
discuss possible links between a number of unsolved murders and a jailed
serial killer.
Philip Smith, 36, from Braithwaite Road, Sparkbrook,
Birmingham, is serving life after he admitted murdering three women in
November 2000.
Teenager Jodie Hyde was strangled and her body burned.
Rosemary Corcoran was beaten to death before he ran over Carol Jordan in
a car.
Ms Jordan was then kicked to death.
Smith, a former fairground worker and taxi driver, was
jailed at Leicester Crown Court in July.
The meeting took place at the headquarters of West
Mercia Police near Worcester, on 25 October.
Representatives from six forces took part under the
auspices of West Midlands Police.
At the time of the court case, Chief Superintendent
Ellie Baker from West Midlands police said: "Philip Smith is
already a triple killer and we would be wrong to leave it at that, we
need to search further."
There have been reports that detectives are examining
possible links between Smith and the death of Patricia Lynott, a barmaid
at the Digbeth pub in Birmingham where he occasionally worked.
Ms Lynott's body was found in her flat in Bordesley
Green, Birmingham, two weeks before Smith strangled Jodie Hyde.
The operation to catch Smith, codenamed Green,
involved more than 100 detectives and 50 support staff from West Mercia
and West Midlands Police.
Inquiry into triple killer's past
BBC News
Wednesday, 18 July,
2001
Police are investigating the possibility that a man
jailed for life for murdering three women could be linked to unsolved
killings.
Philip Smith, 35, bludgeoned the women to death in
Birmingham in the space of four days last November.
Midway through giving evidence during his trial at
Leicester Crown Court, Smith changed his plea to guilty.
Relatives of the three dead women - 21-year-old Jodie
Hyde, Rosemary Corcoran, 25, and mother-of-six Carol Jordan - say they
hope he is never released from prison.
After Smith, a 22-stone former fairground worker, was
jailed, West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent Ellie Baker said:
"Philip Smith is already a triple killer and we would be wrong to
leave it at that, we need to search further."
Investigations will go back 20 years across several
forces but at present, detectives say he is not being positively linked
with any unsolved crimes.
Police are unsure of a motive for the killings but
believe lack of permanent sexual relationships may have been a factor.
Smith, from Braithwaite Road, Sparkbrook, had no
previous convictions for violence.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment, Mrs Justice
Rafferty said: "You robbed three innocent ladies of their lives.
"I suspect that their families will suffer the
more as they simply don't understand why you did.
"The brutality of these ladies' deaths, designed
by you to evade discovery, showing the coldness with which you
dispatched them, is appalling.
"You should clearly have faced up like a man at
the overwhelming nature of the Crown's case against you but you chose to
put the victims' families through misery which you compounded by this
trial."
Body hidden
The unexplained killing spree started on 9 November
when two patrolling police officers found the smouldering body of
recovering butane gas addict Jodie Hyde.
She was barely recognisable and her body had been
hidden near a recreation ground off Golden Hillock Road in the
Sparkbrook area of Birmingham.
A post-mortem examination, which identified her by
fingerprints, showed she had been strangled before being rolled up in a
carpet and set on fire.
Hours later, he killed Rosemary Corcoran, whose
battered body was found in a wooded lane by a pub landlord off the A38
near Droitwich Spa.
He had befriended both women in The Rainbow pub in the
Digbeth area of Birmingham, where he found casual work and operated as
an unlicensed taxi driver for customers.
He knocked over his third victim, Carol Jordan, with
his car as she walked to work at a care home.
Smith then beat her so severely that she had to be
identified from dental records.
'Devastation and heartache'
Rachel Brand QC, defending, told the judge that Smith
had indicated to her on Tuesday that he wanted to change his plea and on
Wednesday that he wanted the charges read to him again.
As the clerk of the court did so, he answered "guilty"
to each charge, prompting tears from some of the relatives of victims,
in the public gallery.
James Taylor, Carol Jordan's brother, said afterwards:
"The devastation and the heartache that Philip Smith has caused
will never fade.
"The last eight months have been a nightmare for
all of us, especially Carol's husband and children.
"The past is now over but not forgotten.
"We are all hoping that Philip Smith will never -
and I mean never - be allowed into the outside world ever again."
Experts from the Forensic Science Service in
Birmingham analysed masses of evidence which led to Smith.
The team was headed by Martin Whittaker, who worked
closely with detectives from West Mercia Police and their counterparts
at the neighbouring West Midlands force.
The investigation to catch Smith involved more than
100 detectives and 50 support staff from West Mercia and West Midlands
Police.
Codenamed Operation Green, it was led by the Chief
Constable of West Midlands Police Sir Edward Crew.
He said: "I would like to record my thanks to all
those involved in this inquiry and hope that its success in putting an
evil and dangerous man behind bars for life will bring some comfort to
the victims' families".
Forensic evidence trapped triple
killer
BBC News
Wednesday, 18 July, 2001
Forensic science played a key role in catching triple
murderer Philip Smith.
Experts from the Forensic Science Service in
Birmingham analysed a massive amount of evidence and the results linked
the 35-year-old Gloucestershire handyman to each victim.
The team was headed by Martin Whittaker, who worked
closely with detectives from West Mercia Police and their counterparts
at the neighbouring West Midlands force.
He said: "A team of forensic
scientists from different specialities worked really hard to gather
everything they could.
"The team pulled together every strand of forensic
evidence to create a kind of 'spider's web' and in the centre of it all
... was Philip Smith.
"In 20 years of working for the FSS, I have never had
to deal with so much evidence in relation to one suspect. It was quite
overwhelming."
"Throughout the investigation, the FSS and police
worked very closely together and the result is a tribute to that
partnership."
Bloodstained clothing
Experts had attended each of the scenes before the
crimes were linked.
But after Smith's arrest, two FSS scientists visited
his home in Braithwaite Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, while another
examined his battered Volvo car.
The evidence recovered was crucial to the case.
At Smith's shabby terraced home, just blocks from
where Jodie Hyde's body was found, they discovered a bath full of murky,
brown water that contained apparently bloodstained clothing.
Laboratory analysis established links between the
three cases.
This included blood, which matched each of the three
victims, on Smith's belongings.
Smouldering body
Smith's unexplained killing spree was brief but
brutal.
He had no previous convictions for violence, but in
the space of four days last November, he murdered three women.
Patrolling police officers found the smouldering body
of 21-year-old Jodie Hyde on 9 November.
Barely recognisable, the body had been
hidden near a recreation ground off Golden Hillock Road in the
Sparkbrook area of Birmingham.
Days later, on 12 November, the landlord of the Robin
Hood Pub at Rashwood, near Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, discovered the
body of Rosemary Corcoran, 25, in a wooded lane near a nursing home.
On the same day, 20 miles away in Lea Bank,
Birmingham, a dog walker found the battered body of mother-of-six
Rosemary Jordan in parkland.
She had been viciously beaten and had to be
identified through her dental records.
CCTV pictures
All three women frequented The Rainbow, a pub in the
Digbeth area of Birmingham where Smith ran an unlicensed cab business.
Hours before Ms Corcoran's body was found, Smith was
caught on CCTV struggling with her outside a club in Handsworth.
Several hours later, a pensioner said he saw a man
fitting Smith's description, bloodstained and filling a petrol can in
Bromsgrove, a neighbouring town to Droitwich.
Man rejects blood-stain evidence
BBC News
Tuesday, 17 July, 2001
Police tampered with evidence in the case against
a man accused of killing three women in four days, a court has heard.
Philip John Smith, 36, made the claim after it was
put to him that blood from two of his alleged victims was found on jeans
discovered soaking in a bath.
Mr Smith, of Braithwaite Road, in the Sparkbrook area
of Birmingham, denies murdering Jodie Hyde, 21, Rosemary Corcoran, 25,
and Carol Jordan, 39, between 8 and 12 November last year.
Blood on boots
Defence counsel Rachel Brand QC asked Mr Smith if he
had formed any idea of how blood, said to come from Rosemary Corcoran
and Carol Jordan, had been found on the jeans.
Mr Smith replied: "The police may have tampered with
it or something like that."
He then gave the same explanation when asked why
there was blood from Miss Corcoran and Ms Jordan on boots he was wearing
the night they were murdered.
Leicester Crown Court heard a pair of size 10 women's
trousers, which the prosecution claim belonged to Miss Corcoran, were
also found soaking in the bath at Mr Smith's flat.
But Mr Smith claimed the trousers were among clothes
he stole from outside an Oxfam charity shop in the middle of the night.
Burnt body
He told the court: "There are bags that are left
outside shops that I pick up and take back to my flat at night time."
Rosemary Corcoran, from Castle Vale, Birmingham, was
found near the Robin Hood pub in Droitwich, Worcestershire on 12
November.
Carol Jordan, from Balsall Heath, Birmingham, was
found dead in Lee Bank, Birmingham, several hours later.
The burnt body of Miss Hyde, from Alum Rock,
Birmingham, was found in parkland in Golden Hillock Road, Sparkbrook.
Man 'killed and mutilated' women
BBC News
Tuesday, 3 July, 2001
Two women were battered to death and a third was
strangled and set alight by the same killer over a four-day period,
a court has been told.
Leicester Crown Court was told that Philip John Smith
mutilated the three women almost beyond recognition.
Mr Smith, 35, of Braithwaite Road in Sparkbrook,
Birmingham, denies three charges of murder.
The court was told how the smouldering body of Jodie
Hyde, 21, was discovered near an adventure play area in Birmingham on 9
November last year.
Mr Smith then battered to death Rosemary Corcoran,
25, and Carol Jordan, 39, on 12 November last year, the jury was told.
Prosecuting, Mr Tim Raggatt QC told the court that
all three murders were carried out by Mr Smith.
He said "powerful and compelling" scientific evidence
would link him to the killings.
"The prosecution suggest these killings were and
could only have been the work of one individual," he told the jury.
Vulnerable
"The idea that more than one person was responsible
for these killings, I suggest is frankly an absurdity.
"The Crown say that individual was Philip John Smith."
Mr Raggatt said Miss Hyde was a vulnerable individual
who had drug problems.
He told the court she was befriended by Mr Smith in
the Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Birmingham.
After taking her to a hospital appointment in
Birmingham, Mr Raggett told the court that Miss Hyde was probably killed
at his flat.
Fingerprints
He said her naked body was bundled into the back of
Mr Smith's Volvo car and driven to open land at Ackers Trust, an
adventure play area in Birmingham.
Mr Smith wrapped the body in a blanket and bound with
a green rope, the court was told.
Her body had received 60% burns and had to be
identified by her fingerprints, the jury heard.
Mr Raggatt added: "Clearly her killer had gone to
great lengths to remove all trace of her.
"To mutilate her and leave her in such a way that the
discovery of her identity would be impeded by a maximum degree. That
killer was Philip Smith."
The jury also heard that Mr Smith had beaten Miss
Corcoran with such ferocity that she was physically unrecognisable.
Mr Raggatt said: "He literally shattered her face.
"She was so badly disfigured that identification of
her body was only possible through fingerprints and dental records after
her jaw was put back together."
He added that Mrs Jordan, a care worker, had been
knocked down by Mr Smith as she walked to work.
He said: "It was a serious accident, the police were
bound to attend ... Carol Jordan had to die and she did die."
Philip Smith
Forensic.gov.uk
The Forensic Science Service® (FSS®) played a crucial
role in the conviction of Philip Smith who was found guilty of the
murder of three women in Birmingham over four days in November 2000.
Scientists analysed an overwhelming amount of
forensic evidence and the results linked Smith to each of the three dead
women - Jodie Hyde, Rosemary Corcoran and Carol Jordan.
A senior forensic scientist, who co-ordinated the
case for the FSS, said:
"A team of forensic scientists from different
specialities pulled together every strand of forensic evidence to create
a kind of 'spider's web' and in the centre of it all - linked to each
one of the murdered women - was Philip Smith.
"This was a difficult case to deal with because there
was so much evidence to look at. In 20 years of working for the FSS, I
have never had to deal with so much in relation to one suspect - it was
quite overwhelming.
"But the results of our work gave police a very
strong case against Smith. Throughout the investigation, the FSS and the
police worked very closely together."
The FSS first became involved after the discovery of
Jodie Hyde’s body on a recreation ground in the Sparkbrook area of
Birmingham on 9 November.
The FSS was called in to provide expert scientific
support to West Midlands Police. Two members of staff - one a senior
forensic scene examiner and the other a DNA expert - attended the scene
and the post mortem to advise on, amongst other things, the taking of
samples.
Three days later the on-call forensic scene examiner
was called to Droitwich by West Mercia Police where the body of Rosemary
Corcoran had been found in a secluded lane off the A38.
The scientist carried out an examination of the blood
distribution at the scene and, while he was there, he received another
call to attend the scene of another murder – that of Carol Jordan - in
Birmingham. He arranged for another senior forensic scientist to attend.
At this time all three murders were being treated by
police as entirely separate as there was nothing about them that
suggested they had been carried out by the same person.
Once Smith was arrested, two FSS scientists visited
his home whilst another examined his Volvo car and searched for evidence
linking the suspect to the three crimes.
The evidence recovered was crucial to the case. At
Smith’s home, they found a bath full of murky, brown water that
contained apparently bloodstained clothing.
Back at the FSS lab, scientists examined items from
his home and the crime scenes and found many links between the suspect
and the three murders, including:
Blood matching each of the three victims on Smith’s
belongings – including blood matching Carol Jordan and Rosemary
Corcoran found on a pair of steel toe cap working boots.
A pair of ladies’ trousers found at Smith’s home
which could be directly linked to Rosemary Corcoran through DNA.
A pink fibre found at Smith’s home and in his car
which matched fibres from the blanket in which Jodie Hyde’s body was
wrapped.
In Smith’s car, scientists found:
Rosemary Corcoran’s blood on the outside offside
tyre and mud flap and the rear offside wing.
Smears of blood found on the back of one of the
front seat head rests that matched Jodie Hyde.
A partial DNA profile of Rosemary Corcoran
recovered from an apparent fingermark in blood, found on one of the
back windows.
Examinations of tyre impressions showed that marks on
the inside of one of Rosemary Corcoran’s arms matched with some of the
pattern elements of one of the tyres. Tyre impressions at the scene
where her body was found were also found to match Smith’s car tyres.
Paint found on Carol Jordan’s trousers was found to
match paint from the suspect’s car.
Smith, 35, was jailed for life at Leicester Crown
Court in August 2001.
