The defendants appeared at the Old Bailey for sentencing on Thursday
By Catherine Evans & PA Media
BBC News
An extreme body modification website made nearly £300,000 showing its 22,000 subscribers procedures including the removal of male genitals, a court has heard.
Marius Gustavson and others carried out multiple mutilations on his “eunuch-maker” site.
Gustavson, 46, of Haringey, has admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
He appeared for sentencing alongside six men at the Old Bailey on Thursday.
Warning: Contains graphic descriptions
The charges relate to 13 victims who are being safeguarded by specialist detectives.
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 contrary to Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Scotland, Peter Wates, 66, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists from Purley in Surrey, Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, David Carruthers 61, Janus Atkin, 38, who had been completing a veterinary course, Ashley Williams, 32, all of Newport, Gwent, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm.
“Arch manipulator” Gustavson had been involved in “numerous” extreme procedures with films featuring on the pay-per-view website between 2017 and 2021, a hearing was told.
The wide-ranging conspiracy also involved the removal and trade of body parts, the court was told.
The procedures were filmed and uploaded to Gustavson’s website, which subscribers paid to watch, with varying levels of membership from “free” to “VIP” which cost £100.
The practice is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their genitals removed.
Ms Carberry KC said the group used a “wide variety of tools” for their procedures including those used for “animal castration”.
Ms Carberry told the court that during a facetime call with a man in Sweden, Gustavson told him to “maim himself” by cutting off his testicles with a knife.
Gustavson told him: “You know what to do come on, just push it.”
Three days later, Gustavson encouraged him to cut off his penis, the court was told.
Ms Carberry said that police officers found Gustavson’s penis “in a drawer in his home four years after it had been amputated”.
The Norwegian national, who had his leg amputated in February 2019 after getting a man to freeze it, the court heard.
In a video played during the hearing of another incident, 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 sentencing hearing will conclude on Friday.
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