From The North: The hunt for the 'heavy bag man' murderer

The hunt for 'heavy bag man': How police caught a man who killed then chopped-up his housemate

  • ITV Granada Reports journalist Emma Sweeney talks to detectives about how they were able to solve one of the most complex murder cases Greater Manchester Police has seen in recent years.

In March 2024, Marcin Majerkiewicz was in the midst of trying to get away with murder.

His victim, 67-year-old Stuart Everett, had been bludgeoned to death around three weeks before with what police believe was a hammer.

The murder - which took place in the house they both shared - had to have been planned because Marcin Majerkiewicz had too many tools at his fingertips - and almost immediately afterwards, he started to chop up Stuart's body parts using a hacksaw, before casually dumping them across Greater Manchester.

The remains were scattered far and wide in the hope that nature would take its course and it would be difficult to identify them.

But Majerkiewicz had hugely underestimated the capabilities of detectives from Greater Manchester Police.

When Stuart's torso and thighs were discovered at a remote nature reserve around a week after he was murdered, a huge investigation was launched.

67-year-old Stuart Everett was murdered by his housemate.
How thousands of hours of CCTV helped police catch a murderer

Officers had no clue who the victim was, but they began to work on the following hypothesis; whoever dumped the remains must have done so on foot, as it's not possible to drive up to that area of the park.

Therefore, if they could just identify that person, well then they'd have their suspect.

The hunt for the "heavy bag man" - as he became known - is one of the most complex cases Greater Manchester Police has dealt with in recent years - and in the latest episode of From The North, we hear how they were able to solve it in just three weeks.