Philip Smith
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.