Yahoo News What we know about investigation into headless torso found in Manchester woodland
Police have named the man whose human remains were found across Salford as 67-year-old Stuart Everett.
Police have named the victim whose body parts were found in multiple locations across Salford as 67-year-old Stuart Everett.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said detectives believe the headless torso and other remains found in Kersal Dale Wetlands, near Salford, was that of Everett, who lived in the local area. Formal identification has yet to take place but DNA samples have been sent for urgent forensic analysis to confirm the identity.
Two men - Michal Jaroslaw Polchowski and Marcin Majerkiewicz - were charged with murder on Monday appeared at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday. Detectives say "fast moving" investigations have "rapidly progressed" over the past three days, and are continuing to build a fuller picture of the circumstances that led to Everett’s death.
Here's what we know so far.
What we know
The torso was initially found by a passer-by on 4 April in a plastic bag containing his lower back, buttocks and thigh. Remains were subsequently found across three more locations in the area.
The two men were charged after suspected human remains were found on Monday morning in an alleyway close to railway lines off Worsley Road.
More remains had been found by a dog walker at Linneyshaw Colliery Wood on Saturday evening and by officers at Blackleach Reservoir on Sunday. While the remains found at the other three locations are still to be tested, the force said it is "confident" they belong to the same victim.
DNA samples have been sent away for urgent forensic analysis, which police say will be able to provide the force with extra certainty. Police said the victim had only been dead for a matter of days after his torso was found, and that his family has been informed.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes added: “On behalf of Stuart's loved ones, I ask the public and the press to please respect their wishes for peace and privacy while they process this most devastating news.
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Specially trained Family Liaison Officers from GMP have been deployed to support the victim's family.
On Monday, two men - Polchowski, 68, and Majerkiewicz, 42, both from Worsley Road, Eccles - appeared in court charged with murder.
Both men were remanded in custody after appearing at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday and will next appear in court on July 18 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
A provisional trial date of March 3 next year was fixed by Judge Nicholas Dean KC, the Honorary Recorder of Manchester.
Officers searched a property in Worsley Road, where they believe the victim and the two men who have been charged lived.
A 20-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder on 6 April was later released on bail pending further inquiries.
Police said more resources will continue to be deployed as they look to recover more evidence and build a fuller picture of the circumstances that led to Everett's death.
At Everett’s home address in the Winton area of Salford, police crime scene investigators were still at work on Tuesday, with two police cars and two police vans parked outside.
Officers in white boiler suits and face masks could be seen entering the property, a two-storey Victorian semi-detached house on a busy main road, with the garden backing on to a children’s nursery.
His next door neighbour said she did not wish to speak to reporters at this time, as did other neighbours left shocked by what has happened.
What we don't know
The relationship between the victim and the two men who have been charged, who all lived together, is not yet known, although police say they were not related.
The manner in which the man died has also not been disclosed nor when - although evidence at the scene suggests the victim is likely to have died there in late March, police said.
The force is appealing to local communities to report anything suspicious they may have seen, heard or witnessed in the crime scene areas.
Anyone with information should call 101, quoting log number 2695 of 04/04/2024, or they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
