The leader of a “grisly and gruesome” extreme body modification network who streamed mutilations on his “eunuch maker” website has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.
Marius Gustavson, 46, was the “arch manipulator” of vulnerable victims and was said to have been involved in at least 29 procedures, which were “little short of human butchery”, the Old Bailey in London heard.
The “large-scale, dangerous and extremely disturbing” four-year enterprise included castrations, the use of clamps to crush testicles, penis removals, the freezing of limbs and administering electric shocks to a 16-year-old boy, which were streamed on Gustavson’s website.
The “busy and lucrative” business is estimated to have taken more than £300,000 from its 22,841 paying subscribers across the world between 2017 and 2021.
Gustavson, who had previously admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, appeared for sentence via video link alongside six other men who had all admitted their part in the scheme. The charges relate to 13 victims who are being safeguarded by specialist detectives.
Judge Mark Lucraft, the recorder of London and most senior judge at the Old Bailey, said as he announced the sentence: “Gustavson, you are very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise. The business you set up was one that was both busy and lucrative. As with all the others involved, you have no medical qualifications.”
He added: “The footage uploaded was extremely explicit and made available to paying subscribers no doubt so they could watch it for their sexual gratification […] Like-minded individuals were recruited by you, Gustavson, to assist in what became a large-scale, dangerous, and extremely disturbing enterprise.”
The prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the three-day sentencing hearing that there was “clear evidence” of cannibalism and that Gustavson had cooked testicles for lunch in an “artfully arranged salad platter”. He also kept numerous body parts as “trophies” in a fridge at his home in Harringay, north London and “sold” severed genitalia online.
The court heard the procedures were carried out in “amateur and dangerous” ways with kitchen knives, surgical scalpels and implements designed to be used on livestock, leaving victims writhing in pain and needing medical attention.
The judge said: “They are permanent and irreversible procedures and will have a long-term, lifetime effect on the ability of the victim to carry out their day-to-day activities.”
Gustavson’s film-production techniques began to take on a more and more professional feel as the number of procedures increased. The videos were uploaded to the website, and subscribers paid to watch, with varying levels of membership from “free” to “VIP”, which cost £100, the court heard.
The scale of the operation Gustavson, a Norwegian national, and other “like-minded individuals” ran was “without precedent”, Carberry said, saying it was “impossible to know” the full scale of the offending.
The court previously heard that the procedures are linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.
In a video of one incident, which was played in court, one of the group’s victims was branded with the letters “EM”, for eunuch maker, on the back of his calf. The man later complained to police about Gustavson and his “circle of acolytes”, and an investigation was launched.
In a victim impact statement, the branded man described Gustavson as a “lunatic” who had put together a “slick, professional website”.
The other six defendants admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
The judge said: “I am entirely satisfied that the motivation of all those involved were a mix of sexual gratification as well as financial reward.”
Gustavson pleaded guilty to conspiring 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.
Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Forensic officers found a scrotum and two penile shafts inside a tub of butter marked with the instruction “do not defrost” at his home address.
Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years.
Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Scotland, received five years and eight months’ imprisonment, and Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
David Carruthers, 61, and Ashley Williams, 32, of 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 Gustavson’s penis with a kitchen knife on video at his home on 18 February 2017.
Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavson’s leg leading to the need for it to be amputated in February 2019.
Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, received a two-year suspended sentence for the partial removal of Gustavson’s nipple with a scalpel in the summer of 2019.
Kate Mulholland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Whilst the victims in this case all seemingly consented to surgeries and amputations, the victim who bravely reported his assault to the police expressed serious regret regarding his procedure and the lasting impact it has had upon him. This clearly emphasises why such practices are unlawful.”
DI Amanda Greig, from the Met’s specialist crime command, thanked the victims for their bravery, adding: “I would like to highlight the excellent work of the Met’s investigation team, who have examined thousands of hours of horrific material seized from the suspects. Their diligence and professionalism have ensured no one else will suffer at the hands of these men.”
The Met said a search of Gustavson’s flat had uncovered boxes of medical needles and syringes, local anaesthetic packs, surgical tools, a wooden chopping board and a mallet, a body board with leg and arm restraints attached, disposable skin staplers, and numerous medical procedure videos.
