A man has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 34 years for murdering a pensioner and dismembering his body with a hacksaw.
Warning: This article contains details that some people might find distressing.
Marcin Majerkiewicz, 42, bludgeoned Stuart Everett with a hammer at the house they shared in Salford, Greater Manchester, overnight between 27 and 28 March last year.
He used a hacksaw to dismember the 67-year-old, cutting him into 27 pieces, before taking the body parts in plastic bags on bus journeys across Salford and Manchester to dump the evidence.
Image: Bodyworn video footage of Majerkiewicz’s arrest. Pic: Greater Manchester Police
Police say the Polish father-of-two had an obsession with gore and gruesome horror, as well as a tattoo of slasher-film character Jason from the horror franchise Friday the 13th.
Majerkiewicz denied responsibility for the killing but offered no evidence in his defence. His motive remains unclear.
Jurors convicted him of murder following a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. On Friday, he was jailed at the same court for life with a minimum term of 34 years.
Trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh told Majerkiewicz, who was unemployed at the time of the crime, it was pre-planned murder for gain, to steal Mr Everett’s money to pay off his spiralling debts.
Image: Victim Stuart Everett. Pic: Greater Manchester Police
Majerkiewicz, who planned to flee abroad after the murder, owed £60,000 in loan debt and £14,000 on credit cards, the court heard.
Mr Justice Cavanagh said: “You acted in an almost unbelievably cold-blooded and macabre way and showed complete disrespect and contempt for your friend’s remains.
“This denied dignity to Stuart Everett even in death and greatly increased the pain suffered by Stuart Everett’s family when the murder came to light.”
Mr Everett’s family initially had no idea he was dead as Majerkiewicz had assumed use of his finances and his mobile phone, even sending text messages and a birthday card to his relatives purporting to be from Mr Everett.
The court heard that, while former civil servant Mr Everett was murdered overnight between 27 and 28 March last year, police were only alerted after his torso was found at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford on 4 April.
Image: A police tent in Kersal Dale nature reserve where Mr Everett’s torso was found. Pic: PA
Police scoured CCTV and found that two days before the discovery, a man entered the wooded area carrying a heavy blue bag and left 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 noticed his resemblance to the man from the CCTV.
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Moment Salford killer is arrested
When police searched Majerkiewicz’s address, they found evidence of blood on a carpet and furniture and an attempted clean-up after the killing and dismemberment.
After discovering the torso, police launched Operation Harker, which found evidence at 15 crime scenes and human remains at five different sites.
Only a third of Mr Everett’s body has been recovered.
Mr Everett had worked for the NHS and the Department for Work and Pensions. He was known to his family as Benny.
His brother Richard Ziemacki, in a victim impact statement read to the court, said: “It’s extremely difficult to put into words how much I miss him. Seeing my brother on CCTV and listening to his voice for the last time will be moments that will live with me forever – I have no words other than absolutely horrendous.
“Every day we have sat watching in disbelief as the evidence unfolded and clearly shown the way my brother’s end had been planned and orchestrated by an incredibly devious, monstrous individual.”
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Image: Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Image: Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Image: Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
Roman Lavrynovych appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was remanded in custody.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command led the investigation because of the connections to the prime minister.
Emergency services were called to a fire in the early hours of Monday at a house in Kentish Town, north London, where Sir Keir lived with his family before the election.