The ringleader of an extreme body modification ring made almost £300,000 through his “eunuch maker” website, which amassed a “staggering” 22,841 users, a court has heard.
Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation
Marius Gustavson, 46, was the “mastermind” behind the “lucrative business” which shared images of “dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries” carried out by people with no medical qualifications, the Old Bailey heard.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said the “nature and scale” of the procedures, including penis removal, castration and freezing of limbs that needed to be amputated, “is without precedent”.
She said Norwegian national Gustavson set up a pay-per-view website using the “swaggering” name “eunuch maker” to advertise his services, which became increasingly professional.
Between 2017 and 2021 he received almost £300,000 in payments from the site which amassed a “staggering” 22,841 registered users from across the globe.
Ms Carberry said it was “a remarkable feature” of the case that the website operated on the open web, accessible to “anyone who stumbled on it and had the inclination and means to pay to view the gruesome footage”.
The court heard customers paid to view footage of a single procedure or could take out various levels of subscription, one of which cost £100 a year.
In one video shown in court, Gustavson – who had his own penis cut off, the tip of his nipple removed and his leg frozen so that it had to be amputated – is seen “tasting” a severed penis.
Ms Carberry said body parts, including testicles, were kept in his freezer, while Gustavson’s own penis was found in a drawer in his home almost four years after it was amputated.
The procedures were carried out at his home in north London, rented apartments or hotels and the victims, including a 16-year-old boy, were promised money from the video revenue, the court heard.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
‘Arch manipulator’
“Arch-manipulator” Gustavson recruited like-minded individuals to assist him, Ms Carberry said.
“All of them consented to the procedures but all were themselves vulnerable to exploitation by him,” the prosecutor added.
Ten men have been charged over their participation in the procedures over more than four years.
Gustavson, who now uses a wheelchair because of his amputation, appeared by video-link from Wandsworth prison at a sentencing hearing today, while six co-defendants appeared in the dock.
He, along with David Carruthers, 61, Janus Atkin, 37, Peter Wates, 67 and Ion Concur, 30, have previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm between 2016 and 2022.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Gustavson also admitted five more counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, making an indecent image of a child, possessing criminal property and possessing extreme pornographic images and three counts of distributing indecent pseudo-photographs of a child.
Ashley Williams, 32, and Stefan Scharf, 61, have also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and will also be sentenced.
Three other men have already been sentenced in connection with the case.
The sentencing hearing continues.
