Six members of a vile ‘human butchery‘ gang have been given the go-ahead to challenge their sentences.
Marius Gustavson, Janus Atkin, David Carruthers, Ashley Williams, Damien Byrnes and Jacob Crimi-Appleby were all imprisoned in May following their catalogue of horrific crimes related to ‘human butchery‘.
A Scottish hotel worker was also been jailed alongside the gang.
Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, received five years and eight months imprisonment, after admitting he was part of the criminal ring which carried out male castration, penis removal and other “grisly” procedures on an unprecedented scale.
These six members of the twisted ‘eunuch makers‘ group, led by mastermind Gustavson, sought to appeal against their sentences today, which were handed down after details of their terrifying emergency surgeries were exposed. Lawyers for the six men – whose sentences vary from four years to life with a minimum term of 22 years – asked the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge the length of the prison terms.
In a brief hearing on Tuesday, three senior judges said an appeal against the sentences could proceed. Gustavson – ‘the eunuch maker’ – was convicted of performing sickening body modifications, including the removal of penises, testicles and legs.
These bloody procedures were mostly conducted in Gustavson’s North London flat, or at rented flats and hotels, sometimes using common household tools instead of medical equipment, causing ‘great distress’ to victims. Many of the gruesome surgeries were filmed and uploaded to Gustavson’s ‘eunuch maker‘ website, where some 22,841 ‘likeminded’ subscribers worldwide would pay to watch the grisly content, with the group operating ‘in plain sight, not on the dark web’.
Over the course of four years, Gustavson amassed nearly £300,000 by orchestrating a disturbing operation linked to the ‘nullos’ subculture, which involves men undergoing genital nullification. He facilitated at least 30 procedures and allowed users to pay for VIP access to witness live penis amputations, reports the Mirror.
Additionally, penises were auctioned off online with a ‘buy it now’ option, fetching hundreds of pounds. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC, described the graphic content available to anyone with an inclination, stating: “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.”
Gustavson manipulated vulnerable victims, with an unknown number of procedures taking place during the Eunuch Maker website’s active years.
In one disturbing incident, Gustavson instructed a Swedish victim to cut off his testicles during a Facetime call, saying: “You know what to do come on, just push it.”
Three days later, he encouraged the victim to cut off his penis. Another victim had their calf branded with the letters ‘EM’ for eunuch maker, prompting them to report Gustavson and his followers to the police, which led to an investigation.
Gustavson, originally from Norway, is a wheelchair user after having his own leg frozen and subsequently amputated. He received £18,500 in disability benefits after forcing NHS staff to amputate his left leg by immersing it in dry ice for two hours.
Notably, he has also had his nipple and penis removed and is known to have kept his severed member in a drawer at his home for years following its removal. In one horrifying incident, Ms Carberry informed the court that Gustavson had ‘cooked some testicles for lunch’, which he consumed as part of a salad, documenting his grotesque recipe from ‘raw ingredients to an artfully arranged salad platter’ with several photos.
Gustavson admitted guilt 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 under Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The ‘Arch manipulator’ was given a life sentence and must now serve at least 22 years before he can be considered for release.
Meanwhile, Atkin, Carruthers and Williams, from Newport, Gwent, along with Ion Ciucur from Gretna, Scotland, Peter Wtes from Purley, Surrey, and Stefan Scharf of no fixed address, all pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm.
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Former surgical assistant Carruthers, who chillingly stored his own testicles in his chest freezer, received an 11-year prison sentence, while his partner Williams, 32, was given four years and six months for assisting in the removal of one of Atkin’s testicles. Atkin, once a student of veterinary science and involved in eight such procedures, was handed a 12-year term, with Scharf getting four years and six months for carrying out a testicle removal in Gustavson’s flat.
Ciucur faced five years and eight months behind bars.
Epsom native Crimi-Appleby pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Gustavson in February 2019, resulting in a three-year and eight-month imprisonment. West London nurse Nathan Arnold confessed to partially excising one of Gustavson’s nipples with a scalpel in 2019.
Peter Wates, a retired chemist implicated in nine gruesome procedures, received a 12-year sentence.
However, Gustavson was considered the diabolical ‘mastermind’ of the gang, described by a victim as a ‘lunatic’ who crafted a ‘slick, professional website’ to disseminate his disturbing videos.
Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, the Recorder of London, declared at sentencing: “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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