A chance sighting by police helped catch the killer who murdered and dismembered his housemate before scattering body parts across Greater Manchester.

Marcin Majerkiewicz has been found guilty of murdering 67-year-old Stuart Everett in a case that sparked a huge investigation and saw remains found in six locations across the region.

Police were initially alerted when the victim’s torso was found by a member of the public in Salford woodland on 4 April 2024 – before CCTV revealed how, two days before, a man had entered the area carrying a heavy blue bag and emerging shortly afterwards without it.

Majerkiewicz was seen carrying a bag for life, visibly struggling as he passed it between his hands, before taking time to rest.

The weight of the gruesome contents was later proven to be about 18 kg (39.6 lbs).

Yet the key to the case came three weeks after the torso discovery.

Two police officers were driving along Eccles Old Road trying to find further CCTV when, by chance, they spotted someone who they believed to be the suspect carrying the bag from the earlier footage.

Officers followed Majerkiewicz as he boarded a bus, where he was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The 42-year-old told officers they had made a “mistake 100%” as he was arrested, but the evidence soon proved overwhelming.

Mr Everett first met Majerkiewicz while teaching English to recently arrived Polish immigrants.

He had worked for both the NHS and Department for Work and Pensions and was known as “Benny” to his family.

Mr Everett, who was not married and had no children, 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 terraced house on Worsley Road in the Winton area of Salford.

Mr Everett began sub-letting the two other bedrooms, with Majerkiewicz moving in during 2017.

Majerkiewicz 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 the killer finding himself about £60,000 in debt.

A father-of-two with his Polish ex-partner, he denied responsibility for the killing but offered no evidence in his defence.

While his motive remains unclear, police said Majerkiewicz had a “fixation with horror and gore” and had a tattoo of the Friday the 13th slasher-film character Jason Voorhees.

Det Supt Lewis Hughes said: “These are all relevant factors in what may have been going on, financial issues, debt, problems paying the bills, potentially a relationship between the two of them.”

After the torso was discovered, police launched Operation Harker and went on to find human remains in six different areas.

Majerkiewicz also dumped remains a short walk from his home address beside a canal.

Pathology of 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.

When police searched Majerkiewicz’s address in Winton, Salford, they found evidence of blood on a carpet and furniture and an attempted clean-up of the scene.

There was heavy bloodstaining in Majerkiewicz’s bedroom, suggesting Mr Everett was attacked and cut up in that room.

Majerkiewicz’s call history showed he had called a man with a van for help in removing furniture from the property and a sofa bed and a fridge freezer were taken to a lock-up in Bury.

Following DNA testing and forensic examinations under UV light, Stuart’s blood was found on the sofa bed, which is believed to be where he was killed. The fridge freezer also contained his DNA.

During Majerkiewicz’s police interview, he provided minimal information to detectives.

During the three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury heard Mr Everett’s family initially had no idea he was dead.

Majerkiewicz had taken control of his victim’s finances, his mobile phone and even sent text messages and a birthday card to his family pretending to be him.

Before his arrest, the court heard how Majerkiewicz has been searching online for properties to rent in Alicante.

The case involved crime scenes across Manchester and Salford but only about one third of Mr Everett’s body has been recovered.

Det Sgt Danielle Bullivant helped to organise the searches for Mr Everett’s remains at the Blackleach reservoir in Walkden.

“I’ve been doing this job for 18 years and every day I work on murders, it is my day job, but I’ve never worked on anything like this,” she said.

Ch Supt Lewis Hughes, the senior investigating officer, said: “We like to think we’ve left no stone unturned and hopefully got some sort of justice for Stuart Everett and his family.”

Trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh told Majerkiewicz, he faces a mandatory life sentence but he will be made subject to a minimum term behind bars.

Majerkiewicz, who made no reaction as the jury found him guilty, will be sentenced on Friday 28 March.

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