A man has appeared in court accused of carrying out and broadcasting castrations on his “eunuch maker” website.
Marius Theodore Gustavson, 45, is one of a group of men arrested on Wednesday in London, Scotland and South Wales.
Nine people now face charges after penises and testicles were allegedly removed and the procedures filmed for paying subscribers.
Gustavson, 45 and originally from Norway but living in London, is accused of being the ringleader.
As well as five counts of GBH with intent, he’s also charged with making and distributing an indecent image of a child and possessing criminal property.
Westminster Magistrates Court was told Gustavson, who appeared in a wheelchair alongside other defendants, has had his own penis, leg and nipple removed.
Met Police said the charges relate to 13 victims, with the crimes said to have taken place between 2016 and 2022 and earning £200,000.
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The accused men are said to have been part of a subculture in which people willingly undergo extreme body modifications, such as becoming “nullos” – short for genital nullification.
None have yet entered any plea and they have been bailed to appear at the Old Bailey in April.
Those charged with conspiring to commit GBH are: Ion Ciucur, 28, of Gretna; Peter Wates, 65, of Purley; and David Carruthers, 60, Janus Atkin, 37, and Ashley Williams, 31 – all from Newport, Gwent.
Damien Byrnes, 35, of Haringey; Nathaniel Arnold, 47, of Kensington and Chelsea; and Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, of Epsom were all charged with one count of GBH.
