Six members of a depraved ‘human butchery’ enterprise can now go ahead and challenge the length of their sentences.
Marius Gustavson, Janus Atkin, David Carruthers, Ashley Williams, Damien Byrnes and Jacob Crimi-Appleby were all jailed back in May after their litany of horrific crimes related to ‘human butchery’. These six members of the sick ‘eunuch makers’ gang, led by ringleader Gustavson, sought to appeal against their sentences today, which were handed down after details of their horror emergency surgeries were revealed.
Barristers for the six men – whose sentences range from four years to life with a minimum term of 22 years – asked the Court of Appeal for the green light to challenge the length of the jail terms. In a short hearing on Tuesday, three senior judges said an appeal against the sentences could take place.
Gustavson – ‘the eunuch maker’ – was found guilty of carrying out depraved body modifications, including the removal of penises, testicles and legs. These bloody operations were mostly carried out in Gustavson’s North London flat, or at rented apartments and hotels, sometimes using ordinary household implements rather than medical equipment, and caused ‘great distress’ to victims.
Many of the grotesque surgeries were filmed and uploaded to Gustavson’s ‘eunuch maker’ website, where some 22,841 ‘likeminded’ subscribers across the globe would pay to watch the gruesome content, with the group operating ‘in plain sight, not on the dark web’.
Over the course of four years, Gustavson made nearly £300,000, and was involved in at least 30 procedures linked to a subculture known as ‘nullos’ – an abbreviation of genital nullification – whereby men have their penis and testicles removed.
Users of the site could even pay a VIP access price to watch a live penis amputation take place, while penises were put up for online auction with a ‘buy it now’ button, going for hundreds of pounds. Detailing the disturbing footage made available to anyone who ‘had the inclination’, prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC, said: “Users could pay to subscribe or buy individual videos. There is evidence the victims were promised a sum of money from the video revenue. Gustavson recruited like-minded individuals to assist him in his large-scale, dangerous and disturbing enterprise.
“He was a manipulator of victims, who were themselves vulnerable. It is impossible to know how many procedures took place in the years when the Eunuch Maker website was active.”
The Old Bailey heard how in one Facetime call with a victim from Sweden, Gustavson told the man to ‘maim himself’ by cutting off his testicles, telling him: “You know what to do come on, just push it.” Then, three days later, Gustavson encouraged the man to cut off his penis.
In another chilling incident, a victim’s calf was branded with the letters ‘EM’ for eunuch maker. This individual later complained to police about Gustavson and his ‘circle of acolytes’, prompting an investigation.
Norweigan-born Gustavson is a wheelchair user after his own leg was frozen and then amputated. He received £18,500 worth of disability benefits after forcing NHS staff to amputate his left leg by placing it in dry ice for two hours. He has also had his nipple and penis removed and is known to have kept his own severed phallus in a drawer at his home for years after it was cut off.
After one nightmarish procedure, Ms Carberry told the court that Gustavson had ‘cooked some testicles for lunch’ which he ate as part of a salad, taking a number of photos demonstrating his repulsive recipe from ‘raw ingredients to an artfully arranged salad platter’.
Gustavson pleaded guilty at his trial to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possession of criminal property contrary to Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The ‘Arch manipulator’ was handed a life sentence, and must now serve a minimum of 22 years before he is eligible for release.
Meanwhile, Atkin, Carruthers and Williams, of Newport, Gwent, as well as Ion Ciucur of Gretna, Scotland, Peter Wtes of Purley, Surrey, and Stefan Scharf of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm.
Former surgical assistant Carruthers, who stored his own testicles in his chest freezer, was jailed for 11 years while his husband Williams, 32, was given a sentence of four years and six months for helping him remove one of Atkin’s testicles.
Former veterinary science student Atkin, who was involved in eight procedures, was given a 12-year sentence, Scharf was jailed for four years and six months for removing a testicle from a man in Gustavson’s flat. Ciucur was sentenced to five years and eight months.
Crimi-Appleby, from Epsom in Surrey, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Gustavson in February 2019, and was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison. Nathan Arnold, a nurse from South Kensington, west London, admitted to having partially removed one of Gustavson’s nipples with a scalpel in 2019. Meanwhile, retired chemist Peter Wates, who was involved in nine of the grim procedures, was jailed for 12 years.
However, Gustavson was regarded as the ‘mastermind’ of the gang, with one of his victims telling the court that he was a ‘lunatic’ who created a ‘slick, professional website’ through which he could share his gory content.
Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, the Recorder of London, said at the time: “Gustavson you are very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise. It was a business which was both busy and lucrative.
“You came to the UK from Norway around 2012 and through your Eunuch Maker website began to advertise so-called body modification procedures. Many of the procedures carried out were filmed and over time the films were produced to an increasingly professional standard.
“The footage uploaded was extremely explicit and made available to paying subscribers no doubt so they could watch it for their sexual gratification. It was a large-scale, dangerous and extremely disturbing enterprise.
“It appears the victims consented – but as the law in this country makes clear consent is not a defence to what took place. It may be some mitigation, but the performing of such medical processes by the unqualified is eminently dangerous and many may face lifelong issues.
“All the procedures were carried out by the medically unqualified in environments far from sterile. They were conducted in amateurish and dangerous ways. In some instances, it is little more than human butchery.
“In some cases, medical equipment is used, in others normal household implements were used. In some equipment was used which is usually used to castrate livestock. Many videos were overtly sexual or had clear sexual overtones, many caused great distress and some resulted in the need for immediate emergency medical treatment.
“I am entirely satisfied the motivations of all involved was a mix of sexual gratification as well as sexual reward. In many of the filmed procedures, the consequence is severe blood loss and many are in clear and acute pain. One is heard on film saying he does not want to die. To many of those looking at this case the activity at the very least will appear to be disgusting and abhorrent.”
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