Eunuch Maker who made £300,000 cutting off body parts jailed for life

The mastermind of a lucrative extreme body modification business that cooked human testicles to eat in a salad has been jailed for life. Marius Gustavson and his henchmen carried out male castration, penile removal and other “sugary” procedures on an unprecedented scale, the Old Bailey heard.

The procedures were filmed and posted on Gustavson’s Eunuch Maker website, which earned him more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021. Once Gustavson cooked “what appeared to be human testicles which are then plated for to be eaten’ and kept other body parts as ‘trophies’, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said.

Gustavson, 46, of Haringey, north London, admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Judge Lucraft sentenced him Thursday to life with a minimum term of 22 years.

He said Gustavson was the mastermind of the “horrific and terrifying”, “large-scale” and “extremely dangerous” enterprise. Six other men received jail terms of between four-and-a-half and 12 years for their part in the plot.

Judge Lucraft said: “I am fully satisfied that the motivation of all involved was a mixture of sexual gratification as well as financial reward.” Some of what happened was “little short of human butchery,” he said.

The extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos,” short for genital annulment, by removing the penis and testicles. Earlier, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Gustavson was linked to at least 29 proceedings.

After one of them, Gustavson cooked the severed testicles for lunch, which he ate in a salad he made himself, she said. He had taken various photographs ranging from “raw ingredients to an artfully arranged salad plate”, Ms Carberry told the court.

She added: “There is also clear new evidence of cannibalism.” The court heard Gustavson, who had two previous convictions for fraud in Norway, offered to sell the severed penis of one of his victims for hundreds of pounds.

According to court documents, the body parts were auctioned online with a “buy it now” button. The other defendants admitted their roles in the conspiracy involving 13 victims, the youngest of whom was 16.

Ms Carberry said the defendants used a wide variety of tools, such as clamps used to castrate animals. Around 22,000 subscribers have paid to access videos on the Eunuch Maker website, with subscription levels ranging from ‘free’ to ‘VIP’ which cost £100.

Gustavson was arrested after using a red iron to brand a man’s calf with the letters EM – for eunuch maker. In a victim impact statement, the man who made the complaint to police described Gustavson as a “lunatic” who created a “professional, stylish website”.

The police investigation led to the arrest of 10 men in London, Scotland and South Wales. During the raids, officers found Gustavson’s penis in a drawer in his home four years after it was amputated. Gustavson, a Norwegian national, had to have his leg amputated in February 2019 after he convinced a man to freeze it and claimed £18,000 in disability payments until 2021.

Earlier, Rashvinderjeet Panesar said the breakdown of Gustavson’s marriage was the “trigger” for his offending. The defense lawyer said: “He had a desire to be the architect of his own body.

“His modification led to feelings of empowerment. It seems to be something that has become an addiction for him.”

Gustavson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, making and distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possession of criminal property. The other six defendants admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a former retired fellow of the Royal Society of Chemists, was jailed for 12 years. Janus Atkin, 38, from Newport, Gwent, who was studying veterinary medicine, was jailed for 12 years.

Ion Ciucur, 30, from Gretna, Scotland, received five years and eight months in prison, and Stefan Scharf, 61, of no abode, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. David Carruthers, 61, and Ashley Williams, 32, from Newport, Gwent, were jailed for 11 years and four years, six months respectively.

In January, three men were sentenced after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Gustavson. Damien Byrnes, 36, from north London, was jailed for five years for removing Marius Gustavson’s penis with a kitchen knife in the filming at his home on February 18, 2017.

Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavson’s leg, which required amputation in February 2019. Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, of South Kensington, west London, was given a two-year suspended sentence for partially removing Gustavson’s nipple with a scalpel in the summer of 2019.

Kate Mulholland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Marius Gustavson ignored the risks of carrying out unnecessary surgery on vulnerable men for sexual gratification and financial gain. He actively recruited participants through his website and was paid to stream footage of these barbaric procedures.

“While the victims in this case apparently consented to the surgeries and amputations, the victim who bravely reported his assault to the police expressed serious regret about the procedure and the lasting impact it had on him. This clearly underlines why such practices are illegal.

“The severity of today’s sentence should act as a warning to others that performing extreme body modifications is against the law and the CPS will not hesitate to prosecute these horrific crimes.”