Pensioner's body chopped into 27 pieces and scattered across city, court hears

A man arrested on suspicion of murder after allegedly chopping his victim into 27 pieces told officers: "It's definitely a mistake, 100%," a court heard. Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, was detained on April 25 last year after a human torso was found at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford on April 4.

He denies murdering pensioner Stuart Everett, 67, with whom he lived in Winton, Salford. The remains were initially unidentifiable, but CCTV footage soon emerged showing a man with a heavy bag arriving at the "deposition site" and later returning without it, Manchester Crown Court was told. Three weeks after the grim discovery, two plain-clothes officers investigating the case were driving an unmarked police car down the road in Salford when they passed Majerkiewicz walking in the opposite direction.

The Investigation Support Officer (ISO), Clare Daly, pointed out to her colleague ISO Matthew Ross that the person they passed matched the description of the suspect they were looking for.

The officers quickly turned their car around and followed Majerkiewicz on foot until he boarded a bus number 100, the court heard.

Soon after, PC Paul Ashworth blocked the bus with his police car and boarded to make the arrest.

Body-worn footage shown to the jury displayed the officer informing Majerkiewicz he was being detained for a search before he was handcuffed and escorted off the bus.

Majerkiewicz was told he had been identified as a "person of interest" in a police investigation.

He responded: "It's definitely a mistake, 100%."

PC Ashworth informed him he had been seen multiple times on CCTV by police investigating a serious incident.

Majerkiewicz then asked, "Someone steal something?"

PC Ashworth replied: "It's a bit more serious than that, matey.

Police found that Majerkiewicz had Mr Everett's phone and bank cards in his possession.

Moments later, the officer informed Majerkiewicz that he was being arrested on suspicion of murder.

"What?" the suspect replied, asking for a translator and shaking his head.

When police searched the house Majerkiewicz shared with Mr Everett on Worsley Road in Winton, they found a skip outside filled with household items.

Inside, they discovered bloodstains and evidence of an attempted clean-up, indicating "something terrible had happened in that house," prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told the jury.

Analysis of Majerkiewicz's phone movements and CCTV footage suggested he had made multiple "deposition journeys," taking bags and using buses to dispose of Mr Everett's body, it is alleged.

Jurors were informed that only about a third of Mr Everett's body had been recovered.

Pathology results from skull fragments revealed that Mr Everett, a former civil servant from Derby, had suffered a "sustained, severe blunt force physical assault," with repeated blows to the head, shattering his skull, before being dismembered with a hacksaw.

Majerkiewicz denies both the murder and manslaughter of Mr Everett at their home in Winton, Salford, during the night of March 27 to 28 last year.

The trial continues.