Marcin Majerkiewicz accused of killing Stuart Everett, dismembering body and scattering parts in green spaces
Warning: this article contains graphic details that some readers may find disturbing
A man accused of killing his housemate in a “brutal attack” and scattering his body parts across parks and nature reserves in Greater Manchester sent text messages from the dead man’s phone in an effort to cover up the murder, a court has heard.
Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, is accused of killing Stuart Everett, 67, known as Benny, with whom Manchester crown court heard he was “close”, at the house they shared in Eccles on 27 or 28 March last year.
A police investigation was launched on 4 April 2024 when a section of a man’s lower torso and thigh was found wrapped in cling film by a passerby just metres away from where children had been playing at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford.
The identity of the victim could not be established, though police traced a man carrying “a heavy blue bag for life” to the scene, whom they later allegedly identified as Majerkiewicz, partly through his “distinctive” shoulder-length hair. After a search, some of Everett’s possessions including his phone were found on the defendant’s person, leading police to the identification of Everett.
Majerkiewicz denies murder and manslaughter.
Further body parts were found in other green spaces, including nine body parts that were found at Worsley Woods, including his heart, a kidney, lungs and genitalia.
A piece of Everett’s spine was discovered at Boggart Hole Clough, while a further 10 body parts, which appeared to have been sawn from his body, were discovered at Linnyshaw Colliery Wood. Parts of Everett’s head and face were found at Blackleach reservoir, with one of the packages discovered by a member of the public.
About a third of the body was recovered by police.
Majerkiewicz appeared in court wearing a grey tracksuit with a shaved head. He heard the proceedings through a Polish interpreter.
The prosecution case was that after Everett was killed, which was thought to have been as a result of blunt force trauma, Majerkiewicz allegedly assumed the identity of his victim, using Everett’s phone to text his family, friends and the landlord – and even sending two handwritten birthday cards to family members. He used Everett’s bank accounts “as if they were his own”, the prosecution said.
“By that time, he was, we say, already dead and his body including his face had been cut up by the defendant,” the prosecutor, Jason Pitter KC, told the court.
He said the “precise nature of the relationship with Stuart is not clear” though the evidence suggests they were “close”. “That closeness, it would appear, would have enabled the defendant to access and take some control of the identity of Stuart Everett, in particular email and telephone services, especially after his death,” Pitter said.
On 3 April, Majerkiewicz researched the address of Everett’s brother in Derby, which the court heard was to send a birthday card to him pretending to be Everett. This birthday card had the defendant’s fingerprints on, the prosecution said, and read: “To Rich, happy birthday and all the best my old man :) Benny xxxx.”
The victim’s brother Richard Ziemacki gave a witness statement saying that he had initially “not noticed anything unusual”, going by his messages and the card he received.
However, on reflection, he told police: “I do not recognise the handwriting as belonging to my brother,” adding that his brother would not have used the phrase “my old man”.
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