This is the moment a man accused of murdering a pensioner and cutting his body into at least 27 pieces was filmed allegedly carrying his torso in a heavy-looking ‘bag for life’.
Marcin Majerkiewicz was arrested after the gruesome discovery of 67-year-old Stuart Everett’s remains in a Salford nature reserve last April.
The 42-year-old was held after police traced CCTV of him walking towards the ‘deposition site’ with a heavy bag and returning without it, a jury has been told.
He denies the murder of Mr Everett, from whom he sub-letted a room in a house in Winton, Salford.
Today a court heard that Majerkiewicz told police who arrested him: ‘It’s definitely a mistake, 100 per cent.’
The ‘gruesome’ discovery of a torso and thighs wrapped in cling film by a horrified member of the public in Kersal Dale nature reserve on April 4 last year sparked a massive police search to identify the victim.
It was immediately obvious that the body part belonged to a man who had been ‘sawn into pieces’, a murder trial at Manchester Crown Court has heard.
Police later found a further 26 parts of his body at four other locations – however only around one-third of Mr Everett’s remains have so far been recovered, the trial has been told.
The court has been shown CCTV footage of Majerkiewicz carrying a blue ‘bag for life’ with what they were told was a ‘dark-coloured item protruding from the top’
Stuart Everett (pictured) was found cut into at least 27 pieces had been bludgeoned to death by his lodger
The discovery of a lower torso and thighs by a horrified member of the public sparked a massive police search to identify the victim (Pictured: A forensic tent at Kersal Dale)
Mr Everett’s skull alone was split into several fragments with his face stripped off and dumped separately.
When he was arrested, Majerkiewicz was allegedly carrying two mobile phones plus bank cards in the name of Mr Everett.
Detectives established that Mr Everett hadn’t been seen alive for several weeks. However messages had allegedly been sent from his phone saying he was unwell.
Searches of the house they shared found bloodstains and saw marks – evidence that ‘something terrible had happened’ there, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told jurors last week.
The skull fragments were placed together by a pathologist who concluded that Mr Everett had been killed by ‘repeated strikes to the head with a heavy blunt implement’, Mr Pitter said.
Jurors have been told that Mr Everett was probably killed on the night of March 27.
The court has been shown CCTV footage of Majerkiewicz carrying a blue ‘bag for life’ with what they were told was a ‘dark-coloured item protruding from the top’ near Kersal Dale on April 2.
In the clips he can be seen swapping the bag from his left hand to his right and also stopping for a few seconds, putting the bag on the ground before continuing.
Mr Majerkiewicz was held after police traced CCTV of him walking towards the ‘deposition site’ with a heavy bag and returning without it, a jury has been told
In the clips he can be seen swapping the bag from his left hand to his right and also stopping for a few seconds, putting the bag on the ground before continuing
It was immediately obvious that the body part belonged to a man who had been ‘sawn into pieces’, according to the prosecution (Pictured: Forensic officers at Kersal Dale)
Mr Everett’s remains were found in the nature reserve two days later.
Today the jury heard how Majerkiewicz was arrested three weeks after the grim discovery, two plain-clothes officers working on the inquiry were driving an unmarked police car down the road in Salford and passed him walking in the other direction.
The Investigation Support Officer (ISO), Clare Daly, told her colleague ISO Matthew Ross, behind the wheel: ‘I think that’s the suspect.
‘I saw an individual on the pathway who matched the description of the suspect we were trying to trace,’ she said in a statement, read to the jury.
The officers turned the car around and followed the suspect on foot before he got on a number 100 bus, the court heard.
Shortly afterwards, Pc Paul Ashworth pulled his police car in front of the bus and boarded it.
Body-worn video footage played to the jury showed the officer telling the suspect he was being detained to be searched, before he was handcuffed and taken off the bus.
Polish-born Majerkiewicz was told he had been identified as a ‘person of interest” in a police investigation.
He replied: ‘It’s definitely a mistake, 100%.”
When police went to the house Majerkiewicz shared with Mr Everett they found a skip outside full of household items and evidence of bloodstaining
Police found a further 26 parts of his body at four other locations (Pictured: Police carry out searches)
Pictured: North West’s Underwater Search and Marine Unit operating in Blackleach Country Park Reservoir in search of remains
Pc Ashworth then tells Majerkiewicz he has been seen on several occasions on CCTV by police investigating a serious incident.
Majerkiewicz later says: ‘Someone steal something?”
Pc Ashworth replies: ‘It’s a bit more serious than that, matey.”
Police found Majerkiewicz had on him the phone and bank cards belonging to Mr Everett.
Minutes later, the officer then cautions Majerkiewicz, warning he is being arrested on suspicion of murder.
‘What?” the suspect replies, before asking for a translator and shaking his head.
When police went to the house Majerkiewicz shared with Mr Everett they found a skip outside full of household items and evidence of bloodstaining and a clean-up operation.
Analysis of Majerkiewicz’s phone movements and CCTV footage showed him carrying bags and taking the bus on numerous ‘deposition journeys” to get rid of his victim’s body, it is alleged.
Jurors were told only around one third of Mr Everett’s body has been recovered.
His lower torso and thighs were found in one piece by members of the public who informed police, however at that stage his identity was unknown (Pictured: Police and forensics)
Pictured: A heavy police presence at Blackleach Country Park as part of the investigation into the headless torso
Pathology of the skull fragments showed Mr Everett, a former civil servant originally from Derby, had been subject to a ‘sustained, severe blunt force
physical assault”, with repeated blows to his head, shattering and fracturing his skull, before being dismembered with a hacksaw.
Majerkiewicz denies the murder or manslaughter of Mr Everett at their house in Winton, Salford, overnight between March 27 and March 28, last year.
As the jury was sworn in last week, trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh warned them they would hear ‘distressing’ evidence but ‘must keep a cool head’.
The trial continues.
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