Polish man with horror obsession convicted of murdering pensioner

Yahoo

21-03-2025

A Polish man is facing a life sentence for the murder and dismemberment of a pensioner he sawed into 27 pieces.
Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, who police say had an obsession with gore and gruesome horror and a tattoo of slasher-film character Jason from Friday The 13th, bludgeoned Stuart Everett with a hammer at the house they shared in Winton, Salford.
The defendant then used a hacksaw to dismember his 67-year-old friend and housemate.
He also flayed the face off Mr Everett before taking body parts in plastic bags on bus journeys across Salford and Manchester to dump the evidence.
Majerkiewicz, a father-of-two with his Polish ex-partner, denied responsibility for the killing but offered no evidence in his defence and his motive remains unclear.
Jurors convicted him of murder in under two hours of deliberations following a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh told Majerkiewicz, who made no reaction as the jury found him guilty, he faces a mandatory life sentence but he must set the minimum time before parole and he will pass sentence next Friday March 28.
The court heard that former civil servant Mr Everett was murdered overnight between March 27 and 28 last year.
But police were only alerted after the initial torso find at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford on April 4.
Police scoured CCTV from the area and discovered, two days before, a man entering the wooded area carrying a heavy blue bag and emerging shortly after without it.
His identity was unknown but three weeks later Majerkiewicz was spotted by an officer working on the case who drove past him by chance and noted he looked like the man from the CCTV.
The suspect told officers they had made a 'mistake 100%' as he was arrested.
When police searched his address in Winton, Salford, they found evidence of blood on a carpet and furniture and an attempted clean-up after the killing and dismemberment.
Only a third of Mr Everett's body has been recovered.
Born Roman Ziemacki in the UK, of Polish parents, and originally from Derby, he first met his killer while teaching English to recently arrived Polish immigrants.
Mr Everett, who had worked for both 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.
He also enjoyed gardening, cricket and a bet on horses.
In 2013 he 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 defendant had worked as a manager at fast-food shops in the Trafford Centre but was unemployed at the time of the murder, with financial pressures building in the household and Majerkiewicz around £60,000 in debt.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, who headed the investigation for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: 'The motive for the killing is unclear.
'We don't know why he removed the face, if it's something, sort of weird fantasy or behaviour or it's just an attempt to mask identification, we don't know.
'But we haven't confirmed any clear motive, these are all relevant factors in what may have been going on, financial issues, debt, problems paying the bills, potentially relationship between the two of them.
'And then Marjerkiewicz does have a fixation with horror and gore as we know from his search history, the videos he watches, his tattoos.
'But we cannot tell you any one reason or any combination of reasons as to exactly what the motive was for the murder.'
After the initial torso discovery, police launched Operation Harker, finding evidence in 15 crime scenes and human remains at five different sites.
Detectives pieced together thousands of hours of CCTV, tracking the defendant's movements, also discovering human remains at Linnyshaw Colliery Woods, Blackleach Reservoir, Worsley Woods and Boggart Hole Clough.
Majerkiewicz also dumped parts a short walk from his home address beside a canal.
Pathology of the skull fragments showed Mr Everett had been subject to a 'sustained, severe blunt force physical assault', with repeated blows to his head, shattering and fracturing his skull.
In Majerkiewicz' bedroom there was heavy bloodstaining, suggesting Mr Everett was attacked and dismembered in that room.
The third occupant of the house, food-processing factory worker Mr Polchowski, was living at the address at the time of the murder and dismemberment.
A murder charge against him was later dropped.
Mr Everett's family initially had no idea he was dead.
Majerkiewicz had assumed use of his finances and his mobile phone, even sending text messages and a birthday card to his family purporting to be from Mr Everett.
He had been searching online for properties to rent in the Alicante area of Spain before his arrest.
Rebecca Macaulay-Addison, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) North West's Complex Casework Unit, said: 'Marcin Majerkiewicz murdered Stuart Everett before making a despicable and disturbing attempt to cover his tracks by disposing of Mr Everett's remains.
'He went on to concoct a web of lies to further conceal his barbaric crime.
'Majerkiewicz not only stole a loved one from those who cared for Mr Everett – his subsequent actions are almost certain to have compounded their pain and suffering.
'Our thoughts remain with Mr Everett's family for the loss they have endured, and we hope today's conviction will provide some sense of justice for this unspeakable crime.'