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The man accused of killing his housemates in “brutal attacks” and scattering the parks and natural reserves of Greater Manchester, sent a text message from the phone of a dead man to hide the murder, the court heard.
Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, is accused of murdering 67-year-old Stuart Everett, known as Benny, whom he heard Manchester Crown Court was “nearby” at the home he shared with Eccles on March 27 or 28 last year.
A police investigation began on April 4, 2024, and found that the man's lower torso and part of the thigh were wrapped in passerby cling films just outside where the children were playing at Kelsaldale Nature Reserve in Salford.
Police later tracked down a man carrying a “heavy blue bag” through his “unique” shoulder-length hair to the scene he identified as Majelkiwitz, but were unable to establish the identity of the victim. After the search, some of Everett's possessions, including his phone, were discovered by the defendant, leading police to identify Everett.
Additional body parts were found in other green spaces, including nine body parts found at Worthley Woods, including his heart, kidneys, lungs and genitals.
Part of Everett's spine was found at Bogart Hole Crow, but ten more body parts that appear to be sawed from his body were found at Renishaw Colliery Wood. Part of Everett's head and face were discovered at Blackreach Reservoir, with one of the packages being discovered by members of the public.
Approximately a third of the bodies were recovered by police.
Majerkiewicz appeared in court wearing a grey tracksuit with a shaved head. He heard the minutes through a Polish translator.
The court heard that after the murders that were believed to be the result of blunt instrument trauma, Majerkivivizal assumed the identity of his victim and used Everett's phone to text his family, friends and landlords, and even sent handwritten birthday cards for the two to their families. He used Everett's bank account “as if they were his own,” prosecutors said.
“By then, he was already dead and his body, including his face, had been cut off by the defendant,” prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told the court.
He said “the exact nature of his relationship with Stuart is not clear,” but the evidence suggests they are “close.” “That intimacy would seem to have been accessible and controlled, especially after death, to the identity of Stuart Everett, email and telephone service, particularly in the case of his,” Pitter said.
On April 3, Majelkiwitz looked into the address of Everett's brother in Derby. The court was to send him a birthday card while pretending to be Everett. The birthday card included the defendant's fingerprints, the prosecutor said, and “A rich and happy birthday, and for my old man's best birthday 🙂 Benny xxxx.”
The victim's brother, Richard Ziemacki, issued a statement from the witness that he initially said he “unaware of something extraordinary” and went with his message and the cards he received.
But, contemplating, he told the police: “I don't recognize handwriting as belonging to my brother,” adding that his brother did not use the phrase “my old man.”
The trial continues.
