article: A man who killed his friend, stuffed the body into a suitcase and threw it into a canal has been jailed for 19 years. Lorenzo Simon, 34, of Smethwick, West Midlands, and his girlfriend Michelle Bird used their friend Michael Spalding for slave labour before Simon killed him and dismembered his body. The 39-year-old's remains were stuffed into two suitcases before Simon and Bird threw them into Birmingham Canal, a court heard. Scroll down for video . Lorenzo Simon, (left) who killed Michael Spalding (right) before stuffing the body in a suitcase and throwing it into a canal, has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years . Police have now released CCTV video footage showing the pair dragging the cases along a pavement. Simon was found guilty of murder at Birmingham Crown Court today and Bird, while being acquitted of the same charge, was convicted of assisting an offender and sentenced to two and a half years. At a sentencing hearing, Mrs Justice Thirlwall told Simon: 'You had no thought for him at all. Your focus, as so often in your life, was on what was best for you.' Simon initially denied knowledge of Mr Spalding's death, claiming he threw him out following a row over a car crash, but later admitted assaulting him during a fight after police found tiny blood droplets on the flat's lounge wall. Neighbours reported seeing a bonfire in the rear garden following Mr Spalding's disappearance - a heat so intense it melted UPVC guttering fascias - and forensic examination of debris from an oil drum showed it to be part of the victim's humerus bone. Michelle Bird (pictured) was convicted of assisting an offender and sentenced to two and a half years . Police divers recovered the second case - containing the victim's head, limbs and tools - below Pope Bridge, Smethwick, on May 16 and further searches of the canal bed uncovered a hacksaw. Using futuristic 3D scanning technology - developed through a pioneering project with Warwick University - experts were able to show a perfect fit between the charred bone and a severed limb found in the suitcase. And the same scanning proved a link between the hacksaw and lacerations found on other bones. Drag marks were also found on the towpath near where the pair dumped the suitcases into the canal. Detective Inspector Harry Harrison from West Midlands Police said: 'Michael was exploited in life by Lorenzo Simon and Michelle Bird and they afforded him no dignity in death. On the contrary, they treated him in the most despicable manner in order to conceal their crime. 'Simon accepted Michael as a tenant on the agreement he used his considerable handyman skills to do up the flat. But he treated him like a slave, working him past midnight and then waking him early in the morning to continue working. 'They were only allowed out with his say-so and given just one meal a day - usually pizza and chips. 'Michael finally broke and complained at their treatment - we believe that, combined with a car accident where Simon accused him of being responsible for damaging his VW Passat, led to the fatal attack. 'Simon said he hit Michael in the back and that he fell to the floor dead within seconds and claimed to have disposed of the body in panic. 'Bird said she was on an errand to buy alcohol at the time of the killing but later admitted helping her boyfriend in the aftermath. The 39-year-old's remains were stuffed into two suitcases before Simon and Bird threw them into Birmingham Canal. Police have now released CCTV video footage showing them dragging the cases (circled in red) 'However, we were able to provide compelling evidence to the jury that this was a vicious murder and that Simon went to considerable lengths to try and cover his tracks.' Mr Spalding had been living at the Oxford Road address for almost three weeks and was under the impression a good renovation job would help him land his own tenancy with the landlord. However, Simon blamed the father-of-three for a collision in mid-April that left his VW Passat with front end damage - and told him the crash ended his hopes of securing his own place and jeopardised their own tenancy arrangement. Mr Spalding last spoke to his partner, who moved out to be with family in Tamworth, at 10pm on April 25 and police suspect he was murdered later that night or the following day. Mr Spalding's body parts were found inside this suitcase, which was dumped in the Birmingham Canal . A second suitcase (pictured) containing Mr Spalding's remains was discovered 11 days later . The black suitcase containing the victim's torso was first spotted on May 5 floating in the water near Pope Bridge by a narrow boat owner. It was seen on several subsequent occasions by canal users before a contractor, suspecting the case contained a dead animal, towed it to Icknield Port yard on May 12. Unemployed Simon - who has convictions for robbery, burglary, theft and drug supply - moved to Derby in a bid to evade police when news of the body find broke - but was arrested with Bird on May 19 and charged two days later. Detectives later heard accounts from neighbours in Oxford Road who told of 'aggressive, nasty' arguments coming from the flat. When police raided the home, parts of a humerus bone were discovered inside this charred drum . 3D scanning technology was able to prove a link between this hacksaw and lacerations found on Mr Spalding's bones . The remains of Michael Spalding were found in a canal in Ladywood, Birmingham on May 12 last year . One recalled Simon saying: 'I want this place finished - I've got to live here, you are taking the p**s' to which Mr Spalding replied 'I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want to go home. I've been at it all day'. A pathologist deemed a number of weapons were used to dismember the body, including knives, a saw and possibly a heavy bladed weapon like an axe. The post mortem examination was unable to confirm the precise cause of death but it is suspected Mr Spalding died from a stab wound to the neck, evidence of which was subsequently destroyed.
highlights: Lorenzo Simon, 34, forced tenant Michael Spalding to decorate his flat .
  But following an argument, Mr Spalding was stabbed and dismembered .
  Simon found guilty of murder and has been jailed for minimum of 19 years .
  Girlfriend Michelle Bird jailed for two and a half years for assisting an offender - but acquitted of murder .
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