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The ringleader of a lucrative extreme body modification website sharing gruesome footage of castrations and amputations, who had a freezer filled with ‘trophy’ body parts, has been jailed for life.
The “grisly and gruesome” actions of Marius Gustavson and six accomplices, who have also been imprisoned, amounted to “little more than human butchery” in some cases, said the sentencing judge.
Marius Gustavson’s ‘Eunuch maker’ pay-per-view website shared footage of people undergoing “dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries” carried out in people’s homes, a court was told – including male genitals being removed.
The Old Bailey heard the extreme body modification enterprise operated on an unprecedented scale with a “staggering” 22,841 registered users and raked in almost £300,000 before it was shut down.
Before he was arrested, mastermind Gustavson was involved in at least 29 procedures between 2017 and 2021, requiring hospital treatment after having his penis and leg removed in one. After another of them, the court heard Gustavson cooked severed body parts, showing “clear evidence of cannibalism”.
The 46-year-old, of Haringey, north London, has previously admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
He appeared for the third day of a sentencing hearing on Thursday alongside six other men who had all admitted their part in the wide-ranging conspiracy.
Among them were Peter Wates, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, and Janus Atkin who had been completing a veterinary course, the court heard.
Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, HHJ Mark Lucraft KC said the defendants’ behaviour brought them sexual and financial gratification, while one victim said he was left with physical, emotional and psychological damage.
Addressing Gustavson, the judge said: “You are very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise. The business you set up was both busy and lucrative.”
However, he stated the others were “willing participants”.
Gustavson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22 years; Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Scotland, was sentenced to five years and eight months imprisonment; Wates, 66, of Purley, Surrey, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment; Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment; David Carruthers, 61, of Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment; Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment; and Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment.
The charges relate to 13 victims, the youngest of whom was 16 years-old.
The court heard Gustavson was driven towards the extreme subculture by a desire to be “the architect of his own body” after his 11-year marriage broke down in 2016.
“His modification led him to feelings of empowerment,” Rashvinderjeet Panesar, defending Gustavson, said. “It appears at face value to be something that’s become an addiction for him.”
The lawyer said Gustavson had been diagnosed with body identity integrity disorder, which accounted for his desire to have body parts removed.
Caroline Carberry KC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey the men were involved in a “lucrative business in the dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries carried out by non-medically qualified individuals – the nature and scale of which is without precedent”.
“All of these individuals were active in the extreme body modification or mutilation scene and the consensual or mutilation of male genitalia,” she added.
Procedures were filmed with “increasing professionalism” and made available on the website set up by Gustavson, which also advertised services including male castration, and offered varying levels of membership from “free” to £100 “VIP”.
“It is a remarkable feature of this case that the website was operating in plain sight – not on the dark web – accessible to anyone who stumbled upon it and had the inclination and means to pay to view the gruesome footage,” she said.
According to court documents, body parts were also put up for auction online with a “buy it now” button.
Shocking images shown to the court revealed Gustavson’s freezer filled with body parts stored in plastic bags and takeaway containers.
Police officers also discovered Gustavson’s own penis in a drawer at his home following his arrest in 2021 – almost four years after it had been amputated.
“Gustavson wasn’t the only defendant to keep trophies from his surgeries,” she added.
Gustavson was arrested after he used a red hot iron to brand a man’s calf with the letters EM – for ‘Eunuch maker’.
Ms Carberry KC said the group used a “wide variety of tools” for their procedures including clamps used for “animal castration”.
Ms Carberry said Wates had been “in the business of purchasing body parts from Gustavson”.
During a police raid on the South Wales home of Carruthers, “testicles were found in a chest freezer”, the prosecutor said.
Ten men were arrested after police raids in London, Scotland and South Wales.
Gustavson pleaded guilty 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.
Ciucur, Wates, Scharf, Carruthers, Atkin and Williams all pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm.
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; Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months; and nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, received a two-year suspended sentence.
Kate Mulholland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “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 won’t hesitate to prosecute these horrendous crimes.”
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2024-05-09 11:57:47Z
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