Neil Hopper was sentenced to spend 32 months in prison after he was found to have committed fraud and more
Warning: This article contains descriptions of self-harm and mutilation that some readers may find distressing
A convicted NHS vascular surgeon whose actions led to the amputation of his own legs after having watched a criminal remove men’s genitals, has been removed from his NHS post.
Neil Hopper, 50, from Cornwall, was sentenced to spend 32 months in prison after his September 2025 trial for freezing his legs after having watched a graphic amputation video.
He was also handed a10-year sexual harm prevention order for insurance fraud for claiming his legs were a result of sepsis, as well as for possessing extreme pornography.
The investigation into his case led police to make the startling link to the ‘Eunuch Maker’, aka Marius Gustavso.
It was found that between 21 August, 2018 and 4 December, 2020, Hopper purchased videos from ‘The Eunuch Maker’ website, which showed men’s genitalia being clamped and removed.
Neil Hopper had his legs amputated (ITV Studios)
Gustavson was jailed for life for his crimes in 2024, having been found to have performed his illegal operations in London flats and hotel rooms on ‘willing customers’ that were filmed during the process in a bid to become ‘eunuchs’, hence his nickname.
From 2013, Hopper was an employee at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust until he his March 2023 arrest, and his medical license was suspended.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The charges do not relate to Mr Hopper’s professional conduct and there has been no evidence to suggest any risk to patients.
“Former patients with any questions or concerns about their treatment can contact the Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ patient experience team.”
However, in 2026, Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel sanctioned Hopper to remove him from the medical register.
Marius Gustavson, the ‘Eunch Maker’ ran a website where he castrated men and livestreamed it. (Crime+Investigation)
According to the BBC, tribunal chair Samantha Gray said Hopper posed ‘an extremely high level of risk to public protection with no demonstrable lack insight or remedial behaviour’.
Robert Dudley, representing the General Medical Council, said the videos Hopper had purchased and watched ‘had been conducted to, and had resulted in, serious injury’ to people in the general public.
He said: “It is apparent to the tribunal Hopper was sexually motivated by the videos and by his own amputation.”
He added that his watching of Gustavso’s content showed ‘a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the public’, noting that Hopper admitting to having ‘no understanding of the motivations’ for his crimes, made him ‘incomparable’ with being an NHS surgeon
Updated 09:53 6 Sep 2025 GMT+1Published 09:45 6 Sep 2025 GMT+1
Horrific texts surgeon sent to ‘Eunuch Maker’ before and after causing his own double amputation
NHS vascular surgeon Neil Hopper, 49, was jailed for insurance fraud and possessing extreme pornography after removing his own legs
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of bodily harm, which some readers may find distressing.
A NHS vascular surgeon jailed for causing his legs to be amputated for insurance fraud sent several horrifying texts to the ‘Eunuch Maker’.
Neil Hopper, a formerly respected doctor from Cornwall, carried out hundreds of amputations over the years before deciding to get his own legs removed in 2019, putting it down to a ‘mysterious illness’.
However, his £466,000 claim to insurers that the injuries to his legs were a result of sepsis was revealed to be false, as he’d frozen his legs with ice and dry ice so they’d be amputated in a hospital.
He later admitted in Truro Crown Court to two counts of fraud and three of possessing extreme pornography, with a ‘sexual interest in amputation’.
Hopper, who has been jailed for two years, would watch videos showing depraved sexual acts carried out by notorious ‘Eunuch Maker’ Marius Gustavson.
NHS vascular surgeon Neil Hopper was jailed for two years earlier this week (Devon and Cornwall Police)
In 2024, Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years after mutilating paying customers and streaming it on his website.
Described in court as ‘a butcher’ and ‘a lunatic’, the Norwegian and his medically unqualified accomplices would perform a series of operations in London flats and hotel rooms on ‘willing customers’, some as young as 16.
As reported by the BBC, in one text message exchange, Hopper wrote to Gustavson: “I’ve dreamt of this for 20 years.”
In another message, he added: “It’s going to be awesome being a double amputee.”
Hopper amputated his own legs for insurance fraud (Instagram/@bionicsurgeon)
After his amputations were complete, he sent: “It feels so cool. No feet!”
“It is evident from the messages that Mr Hopper wished to become an amputee and it was always something he had dreamt of,” prosecutor Nicholas Lee said.
“Something he has been obsessed with and had a sexual interest in becoming an amputee.”
Now, when it came to Gustavson, who moved to the UK in 2012, the court heard that the businessman persuaded others to carry out procedures on him, including the removal of a nipple and his penis, as well as the freezing of one of his legs.
After claiming £18,000 in disability benefits, the court heard that he kept his own severed penis in a drawer at home for years.
‘Eunuch Maker’ Marius Gustavson was jailed for a minimum of 22 years (Met Police)
His website welcomed roughly 22,841 visitors from across the world, many of whom would pay the yearly £100 subscription fee for ‘VIP status’, which would include live penis amputations.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC also said that he once ‘cooked some testicles for lunch’, which he ate in a salad.
Defence barrister Rashvinderjeet Panesar said: “From there, the Eunuch Maker website began. He does say he wished to put a smile on other people’s faces – he wanted to help.
“He was stuck in a body he wanted to make changes to, and understood there were more people out there who wished to do the same.”