9th November 2000,The smouldering body of Jodie Hyde aged 21, was found near an adventure play area in Birmingham. Jodie was a drug addict who had made friends with Smith in the Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Birmingham. He then took her back to his flat.
After he killed her, her naked body was put into the back of Smith's Volvo car and driven to open land at Ackers Trust, an adventure play area in Birmingham.
He wrapped the body in a blanket and bound with a green rope.
Her body had received 60% burns and had to be identified by her fingerprints.
A post-mortem examination showed she had been strangled before being rolled up in a carpet and set on fire.
12th November 2000, Smith then battered to death Rosemary Corcoran aged 25, and Carol Jordan aged 39.
Smith had beaten Miss Corcoran with such force that she was physically unrecognisable
.
Identification of her body was only possible through fingerprints and dental records after her jaw was put back together.
Identification of her body was only possible through fingerprints and dental records after her jaw was put back together.
Her body was discovered in a lane close to the Robin Hood pub at Rashwood, near Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire.
20 miles away in Lea Bank, Birmingham, a dog walker found the battered body of mother-of-six Rosemary Jordan in parkland.
Victims' clothes were found in Smith's bath
Mrs Jordan had been knocked down by Smith as she walked to work. She had been badly beaten and had to be identified through her dental records.
Hours before Ms Corcoran's body was found, Smith was caught on CCTV violently struggling with her outside a club in Handsworth.
A few hours later, a pensioner said they saw a man fitting Smith's description, with bloodstained clothing, filling a petrol can in Bromsgrove, a neighbouring town to Droitwich.
Experts from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham analysed a massive amount of evidence in this case, the results linked Smith to each victim.
Wednesday 18th July, 2001, Originally denying all charges, halfway through his trial at Leicester Crown Court, Smith changed his plea to guilty. Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 25 years.
After Smith, 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 at this time.
