 Philip John Smith ( born 10 July 1965 in Gloucester , England ) is a British spree killer serving a life sentence for the murders of three women in Birmingham . A former fairground worker employed at the Rainbow public house in the Digbeth area of the city , Smith killed his victims over a four @-@ day period in November 2000 , befriending two of them at the Rainbow before carrying out the crimes . All three victims were mutilated almost beyond recognition , but Smith was quickly identified as the killer because of the overwhelming evidence linking him to the deaths . 
