A horror movie-obsessed Polish father who murdered and dismembered a pensioner before flaying off his face has been jailed for life.
Marcin Majerkiewicz, aged 42, has been sentenced to a minimum of 34 years in prison for the brutal murder of Stuart Everett, aged 67. Majerkiewicz not only bludgeoned Everett with a hammer but also dismembered him into 27 pieces using a hacksaw.
Trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh told the court Majerkiewicz had plotted to steal Mr Everett’s money in order to pay off his spiralling debts.
The judge addressed Majerkiewicz, calling his actions “unbelievably cold-blooded and macabre,” emphasizing the lack of respect and contempt he showed towards his victim’s remains.
By denying Stuart Everett dignity even in death, Majerkiewicz significantly added to the pain experienced by Everett’s family upon discovering the heinous nature of the murder.
Polish national Majerkiewicz denied the murder but offered no evidence in his defence, and was convicted after a trial at Manchester Crown Court. He did not react as he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
He had been living as a lodger in Mr Everett’s home in Winton, Greater Manchester before he murdered him sometime in the early hours of March 28 last year.
He then cut up the pensioner and, with surgical precision, removed his face from his skull in a manner prosecutors suggested took ‘patience and skill’.
Mr Justice Cavanagh said he had shown ‘a disturbing willingness and perhaps even enthusiasm to butcher his body’.
Marcin Majerkiewicz will spend at least 34 years behind bars for the murder of Stuart Everett
Pieces of Mr Everett’s (pictured) head, which had been sliced into quarters, and one of his ears, were also found in a reservoir
Mr Everett’s hacked up body parts were dumped at different sites including a nature reserve in Salford, Greater Manchester
Mr Everett, who may have also been the Pole’s lover, was then dumped in beauty spots across western Manchester, travelling with the pieces wrapped in shopping bags on 11 bus trips, riding alongside unsuspecting members of the public.
One bag, containing his abdomen, buttocks and upper thighs, was found in a concrete bunker in Kersal Dale Nature Reserve; his head, sliced into four quarters, were found in the reservoir of Blackleach Country Park – as was Mr Everett’s face.
In a sick twist, the killer then posed as his victim, sending family members WhatsApp messages and even birthday cards and gifts in a bid to fool them into thinking he was still alive, but had suffered a stroke and was in hospital.
But police were only alerted after his torso was found by a member of the public at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford on April 4. CCTV led to them identifying a figure they called ‘heavy bag man’ seen visibly struggling with a bag for life in Prestwich.
With a suspect in mind, Greater Manchester Police Visual Evidence Retrieval and Analysis Unit (VERA) officers began trawling the areas where he had been seen in a bid to find more footage.
By luck, they happened to spot Majerkiewicz, the ‘heavy bag man’, on the streets – and followed him as he boarded a bus before arresting him on suspicion of murder.
Hauled off the people-mover, Majerkiewicz attempts to feign innocence in body-camera footage since released by GMP as he bellows: ‘What?’
‘I go with you, I answer any questions,’ he says, shrugging. Police found he was carrying two mobile phones and bank cards in his victim’s name.
It didn’t take long for police to conclude they had found their man. Working backwards, detectives then deduced Mr Everett was the likely victim as it emerged he wasn’t at home.
They cordoned off the flat they shared where they found traces of blood and evidence of a clean-up where the pensioner had been brutally eviscerated.
Majerkiewicz had even sought to get rid of the evidence by moving a fridge and a sofa bed to a lock-up in Bury. Both items of furniture were covered in the victim’s DNA.
Arrested on April 25, Majerkiewicz was charged four days later. His housemate, Michael Polchowski, was also charged, but later had the case against him dropped after police were satisfied he neither saw nor heard anything.
Majerkiewicz was captured on CCTV carrying cumbersome bags for life across parts of western Manchester that contained parts of Mr Everett’s body
Forensic scene of crime officers seen searching the concrete bunker where parts of Mr Everett’s body were first found
The sick discovery of Mr Everett’s remains sparked a huge investigation by Greater Manchester Police that encompassed searches on air and in water (pictured: police divers)
By luck, police spotted Marcin Majerkiewicz boarding a bus after he matched the description of the ‘heavy bag man’ seen on CCTV – and swooped in to arrest him
Throughout, the killer maintained his silence – but was brought down thanks to in-depth investigations, searches on both land and water and forensic CCTV work.
Born Roman Ziemacki to Polish parents who came to the UK after surviving two years in a Russian concentration camp and settled in Derby, Mr Everett first met his murderer while teaching English to recently arrived Polish immigrants in Manchester.
He had worked for the NHS and Department for Work and Pensions, was known as ‘Benny’ to his family, was not married and had no children, and was a fan of ‘Rat Pack’ singers Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.
His brother Richard Ziemacki, in a victim impact statement read to the court, said: ‘It’s extremely difficult to put into words how much I miss him.
‘Seeing my brother on CCTV and listening to his voice for the last time will be moments that will live with me forever – I have no words other than absolutely horrendous.
‘Every day we have sat watching in disbelief as the evidence unfolded and clearly shown the way my brother’s end had been planned and orchestrated by an incredibly devious, monstrous individual.’
In 2013, Mr Everett began living in a three-bed terrace house on Worsley Road in the Winton area of Salford.
He began sub-letting the two other bedrooms to two Polish men, Michal Polchowsk, 68, with the other, Majerkiewicz, moving in during 2017.
The killer had worked as a manager at fast-food shops in the Trafford Centre but was unemployed at the time of the murder.
The court heard he had built up £60,000 in loan debt and £14,000 on credit cards.
Police ultimately concluded Mr Everett had died by blunt force trauma to the head, which his killer had sought to cover up by cutting his head into four pieces.
Tragically, only around 30 per cent of his body has been found – with the rest ‘lost to nature’.
Senior officers wondered whether Majerkiewicz was acting out a ‘weird fantasy’ from one of his beloved horror movies.
He was a fan of gory horror films and had tattoos of some of the characters from top franchises such as Alien, Friday the 13th and Predator – the latter of whom skins victims and keeps their body parts as trophies.
And the killing stunned his former work colleagues, and his ex common law partner, Agnieszka Majer, with whom he had two sons.
Mr Everett, of Polish heritage, lived with his killer in a home in Salford, Greater Manchester
Police then cordoned off Mr Everett’s flat – and found evidence of both horrendous violence and attempts to cover it up (pictured: torn up carpet in the bedroom)
A sofa bed that Majerkiewicz had sent to a lock-up in Bury in a bid to cover up the killing (left) – with blood visible under UV light (right)
Majerkiewicz attempted to cover up the killing by posing as Mr Everett – even using his nickname of ‘Benny’ in birthday cards
Greater Manchester Police officers on the scene of one of the beauty spots at which parts of Mr Everett’s body was discovered
After the murder, CCTV caught Majerkiewicz withdrawing cash from an ATM using Mr Everett’s bank card
She told the Mail he had been a ‘devoted dad’ who had never been aggressive during the decade they were together, after arriving in Britain 20 years ago and meeting while studying English.
Chillingly, he had taken his boys to the cinema days after bludgeoning Mr Everett to death with a hammer.
The exact relationship between Majerkiewicz and his victim is unclear. However, in an email to a friend sent in 2021, Mr Everett sent a photo of his ‘partner’ who he called ‘Kamil’. The man in the picture was Majerkiewicz.
He also sent a snap of his killer-to-be in a Polish snowscape and told his friend: ‘Kamil has many tattoos but is too shy to show them. I will see if I can slip one out and send it to you which he won’t notice (he has access to my email account haha).’
After the guilty verdict was delivered, Mr Everett’s brother Richard Ziemacki said the family was ‘still haunted’ by the killing.
‘For any person to be treated in the way he was, brutally murdered and systematically and comprehensively disposed of, has meant our family has been left traumatised beyond belief,’ he said last week.
‘A couple of months ago, we spent out first Christmas without Benny. This should have been a happy and joyous period for us all, but it was tainted and our Christmas dinner was not the same without him and our family is now incomplete.’
Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes said of the case: ‘We started with nothing, but we have secured justice for Stuart Everett, justice in the most challenging of circumstances.
‘Hundreds of officers from across the Force, Specialist Operations, CSI, Detectives and Police Staff were all motivated to ensure the abhorrent actions of Marcin Majerkiewicz did not go unpunished.’
