The Jigsaw Puzzle Murder: The chilling true story behind Paramount+ documentary on Stuart Everett’s killing
Two-part series reveals how detectives found the killer of Stuart Everett, whose remains were found scattered in and around ManchesterParamount+ documentary The Jigsaw Puzzle Murder tells the story of one of the most disturbing killings Greater Manchester Police have ever investigated, and how Marcin Majerkiewicz was finally brought to justice.
The two-part series follows detectives as they pieced together the case of pensioner Stuart Everett, whose remains were found scattered across Salford and Manchester in 2024.
It also hears, for the first time, from the man who shared their home and was caught up in the investigation.
Who was Stuart Everett?
Stuart Everett was a retired civil servant who had worked for the NHS and the Department for Work and Pensions. His family knew him as Benny.
He was born Roman Ziemacki to Polish parents, and grew up in Derby.
Stuart, 67, loved gardening, cricket and a bet on the horses, and was a fan of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. He was unmarried and had no children.
He met Majerkiewicz while teaching English to Polish people who had recently arrived in Manchester. The two became close, and lived together in a rented house on Worsley Road in Winton, Salford, with a third housemate, Michal Polchowski.
A grim discovery in Kersal Dale
On April 4, 2024, a member of the public found human remains in woodland at Kersal Dale nature reserve in Salford.
CCTV later showed a man walking into the woods two days earlier carrying a heavy blue bag, and coming out without it.
It was the start of Operation Harker, a huge investigation that eventually found evidence at 15 crime scenes and human remains at five sites, including Blackleach Reservoir, Linnyshaw Colliery Woods and Boggart Hole Clough.
Only around a third of Stuart’s body was ever recovered.
A chance sighting that cracked the case
The breakthrough came down to luck as much as anything.
On April 25, 2024, a police investigation support officer spotted Majerkiewicz on a bus and recognised him from the CCTV footage. He was arrested.
When officers searched the house on Worsley Road, they found blood on the carpet and furniture, and signs that someone had tried to clean up.
A planned killing for money
Stuart was killed overnight on March 27, 2024, in Majerkiewicz’s bedroom.
Majerkiewicz, then 42, hit him on the head at least four times with a heavy blunt weapon, probably a hammer. Stuart died soon after the attack began.
Majerkiewicz then used a knife and a hacksaw he had bought for the purpose to dismember the body. Over around 11 trips, he carried the remains in shopping and travel bags, on foot and on buses, and left them in parks and open spaces across the area.
He was also caught on camera at a KFC after the murder.
The cruel cover-up
For weeks, Stuart’s family had no idea he was dead.
Majerkiewicz took over his phone and bank account and used his money. He posed as Stuart in messages to friends and family, claimed he had suffered a stroke and was moving away, and even sent a birthday card to his family as if it came from him.
He cleared the house, hired a skip and a van, and had been searching online for properties to rent in Alicante, Spain.
The court heard that Majerkiewicz owed around £60,000 in loans and about £14,000 on credit cards, and had no income.
‘You have shown no remorse’
Majerkiewicz denied murder but didn’t give evidence. After a three-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury took less than two hours to find him guilty on March 21, 2025.
Mr Justice Cavanagh found that the murder was planned and carried out for money. “I am driven inexorably to the conclusion that your only motive for killing your friend was to gain financially from doing so,” he said.
He told Majerkiewicz he had “acted in an almost unbelievably cold-blooded and macabre way.”
Of the dismemberment, he said: “This denied dignity to Stuart Everett even in death, and greatly increased the pain suffered by Stuart Everett’s family.”
“You have shown no remorse,” he added.
The judge also praised Greater Manchester Police for their “truly outstanding” work.
‘Incredibly devious, monstrous individual’
In a victim impact statement, Stuart’s brother, Richard Ziemacki, said: “It’s extremely difficult to put into words how much I miss him.”
He described his brother’s death as having been “planned and orchestrated by an incredibly devious, monstrous individual.”
What happened to Michal Polchowski?
Michal Polchowski, the third housemate living at the Worsley Road property, was initially arrested alongside Majerkiewicz and charged with murder.
He spent nine months on remand in custody before the Crown Prosecution Service formally offered no evidence against him at Manchester Crown Court in February 2025, dropping all charges.
Michal provides his side of the story in The Jigsaw Puzzle Murder on Paramount +.
Where is Marcin Majerkiewicz now?
Marcin Majerkiewicz was jailed for life on March 28, 2025, with a minimum term of 34 years.
The time he had already spent on remand was taken off that, but he still won’t be considered for parole until he has served more than 33 years. That means he will be in his 70s before he can even apply for release.
He has never told police where the rest of Stuart’s remains are.
The Jigsaw Puzzle Murder streams on Paramount+ from Thursday, November 12, with both episodes available at once.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI technology to synthesise source reporting and structured data. It has been reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by our human editorial team before publication.
