Modification mastermind jailed for life
THE mastermind of a lucrative extreme body modifications enterprise has been jailed for life. Marius Gustavson and his acolytes carried out male castration and other “grisly” procedures on an unprecedented scale, the Old Bailey heard. Procedures were videoed and published on Gustavson’s Eunuch Maker website, which netted him more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021. Gustavson, 46, 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. He said Gustavson had been the mastermind of the “gruesome and grisly”, “large-scale” and “extremely dangerous” enterprise.
Six other men received jail terms of between four and a half years and 12 years for their part in the plot. Judge Lucraft said: “I am entirely satisfied that the motivation of all those involved were a mix of sexual gratification as well as financial reward.” Some of what happened was “little short of human butchery”, he said. Extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification. Previously, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Gustavson was linked to at least 29 procedures.
The court heard Gustavson, who had two previous fraud convictions in Norway, offered to sell body parts of one of his victims for hundreds of pounds. According to court documents, body parts were put up for auction online with a “buy it now” button.
The other defendants had admitted their part in the conspiracy relating to 13 victims, the youngest of whom was 16 years old. Some 22,000 subscribers paid to access videos on the Eunuch Maker website, with varying levels of membership from “free” to “VIP”, which cost £100. Gustavson was arrested after he used a red-hot iron to brand a man’s calf with the letters EM – for eunach maker. In a victim impact statement, the man who complained to police, described Gustavson as a “lunatic” who had put together a “slick, professional website”. Gustavson had pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, making and distributing an indecent photograph of a child, and possession of criminal property. The other six defendants had admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years.
Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, received five years and eight months’ imprisonment, and Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
David Carruthers 61, and Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, were jailed for 11 years and four years, six months respectively.
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 for removing Gustavson’s penis with a kitchen knife on video at his home on February 18 2017.
Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavson’s leg leading to the need for it to be amputated in February 2019.
Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, received a two-year suspended sentence for the partial removal of Gustavson’s nipple with a scalpel in the summer of 2019.