'Eunuch maker' who shared mutilations is jailed for life

The ringleader of a lucrative extreme body modification website that shared footage of castrations and amputations has been jailed for life.

- TARA COBHAM

Marius Gustavson and his acolytes carried out male castration, penis removal and other procedures on an unprecedented scale, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

The actions of Gustavson, 46, and six accomplices, who have also been imprisoned, amounted to “little more than human butchery” in some cases, said the sentencing judge.

On one occasion Gustavson cooked “what appeared to be human testicles which are then plated to be eaten”, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said.

Gustavson, of Haringey, north London, admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Yesterday Judge Lucraft sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Gustavson’s “Eunuch maker” pay-per-view website shared footage of people undergoing “dangerous, unnecessary and lifechanging 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 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. The court also heard Gustavson cooked severed body parts, showing “clear evidence of cannibalism”.

He appeared for the third day of a sentencing hearing yesterday 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.