 On 8 November 2000 , Smith met 21 @-@ year @-@ old Jodie Hyde , a recovering butane gas addict from Alum Rock , Birmingham , at the Rainbow public house , and they were seen leaving together . He took her to a hospital appointment and later killed her . Prosecutors believed that he strangled her at his flat and dumped her body near a recreation ground near Golden Hillock Road in Sparkbrook , where he set it alight . The still @-@ smouldering remains were discovered at 6 : 15 am next morning ( 9 November ) by two patrolling police officers . The body was barely recognisable and had to be identified using fingerprints . A subsequent post mortem concluded that she had been strangled before being rolled up in a carpet and set on fire . 
