A Norwegian man who called himself ‘The Eunuch Maker’ and other members of his extreme body modification gang face years in prison for carrying out castrations and uploading the images to the Internet for a paying audience.
Marius Gustavson, 46, removed penises, testicles and legs while the operations were filmed and uploaded to his website, which subscribers paid to view.
It earned almost £300,000 over the four-year storyline thanks to 22,841 subscribers around the world.
The practice is linked to a subculture in which men are made “nulls,” short for genital annulment, by having their penis and testicles removed.
Gustavson now uses a wheelchair after his leg was frozen and then amputated. He also had his penis and nipple removed.
He received £18,500 in disability benefits after forcing the NHS to amputate his left leg by putting it on dry ice for two hours.
Marius Gustavson, 46, performed extreme body modifications, including removing penises and testicles.
The operations were filmed and uploaded to Gustavson’s ‘Eunuch Maker’ website, whose subscribers would pay to view them.
The proceedings mainly took place at Gustavson’s flat in Haringey, north London, or in rented apartments and hotels.
Gustavson faces sentencing along with six other members of the “right-hand” body modification cult Peter Wates, 67, Romanian Ion Ciucur, 30, and German Stefan Scharf, 61.
Also facing jail are former surgical assistant David Carruthers, 61, his boyfriend Ashley Williams, 32, and Janus Atkin, 39, all from South Wales.
The recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, will sentence the seven men tomorrow.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC, said: ‘Gustavson created a website called eunuchmaker.com on which he advertised extreme body modification services such as male castration and penis removal.
‘And it is an incredible feature of this case that that website operated in plain sight, not on the dark web, but accessible to anyone who stumbled upon it and had the inclination and resources to see the gruesome images.
‘This footage, which is extremely explicit, was uploaded to eunuchmaker.com. Users can pay to subscribe or purchase individual videos.
‘There is evidence that the victims were promised a sum of money from the proceeds of the video.
‘Gustavson recruited like-minded people to help him in his large-scale, dangerous and disturbing enterprise. He was a manipulator of the victims, who in turn were vulnerable.
‘It is impossible to know how many procedures were carried out in the years that the Eunuch Maker website was active.
‘Those who have been prosecuted are those who have been identified from images found on the hard drives in Gustavson’s apartment.
‘All of these offenders were actively involved in the scene of extreme body modification and the consensual removal or mutilation of male genitalia. Gustavson was involved in a minimum of 30 procedures.’
Janus Atkin admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and is seen arriving at court
Carruthers was involved in six procedures, including four testicle removals.
She worked for Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust from 1991 to 2002 as a “domestic helper” but has no medical qualifications.
Atkin had studied veterinary medicine and was involved in eight procedures, including penis removal.
Wates is a retired chemist and former member of the Royal Society of Chemists and was involved in nine procedures.
He was arrested at his home in Purley, Surrey, on February 2, 2022.
In February 2021 he bought five scalpels online and in June 2017 he bought a suture kit online.
Ciucur participated in two procedures, including a testicle clamp.
Williams participated in helping her husband, Carruthers, remove his friend Atkin’s testicle.
They both worked at the Welsh passport office.
Gustavson appeared in court via video link from HMP Wandsworth, as the Old Bailey cannot accommodate defendants who use wheelchairs.
He sat taking notes during the hearing.
Admits conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of criminal property, namely money, and making and distributing two indecent videos of a child between January 2017 and January 2020.
Also admits possessing extreme pornographic images and three counts of possessing pseudo-photographs of a child.
Wates admits conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Ciucur, who works at a hotel in Gretna Green, Scotland, admits conspiracy to cause GBH with intent in relation to two alterations.
Ashley Williams, seen outside court, admitted carrying out the castrations.
Williams admits causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Atkin at his home in Newport, South Wales, on November 7, 2017.
Carruthers and Atkin admit conspiracy to commit bodily harm.
Scharf admits to intentionally causing grievous bodily harm by engaging in a single procedure by removing a testicle at an apartment in Camden in July 2019.
Former nurse Nathaniel Arnold, 49, Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, and prostitute Damien Byrnes, 36, admitted removing parts of Gustavson’s body and were jailed last year.
Crimi-Appleby, who had a sexual relationship with Gustavson after meeting him at age 17, froze his leg and required amputation, Byrnes removed his penis with a vegetable knife while Arnold partially removed his nipple with a scalpel.
Byrnes was previously sentenced to five years in prison, Crimi-Appleby to three years and eight months, while Arnold received a two-year suspended sentence.
The hearing continues.