Two individuals, David Carruthers, 61, and Janus Atkin, 37, hailing from Newport in south Wales, have confessed to their involvement in an extreme body-modification scheme that featured pay-per-view website videos.
Both pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm at the Old Bailey. The conspiracy, spanning from 2016 to 2022, reportedly encompassed actions such as the removal and cutting of genitals, castration, and the insertion of needles into genitals.
Sentencing has been adjourned to March 4 and 5, as Judge Mark Lucraft KC considers the wide-ranging conspiracy, which is alleged to have included up to 29 offenses of extreme body modifications on 13 victims and involved the trading of body parts.
In court, it was revealed that the procedures were recorded and posted on a website managed by 46-year-old Marius Gustavson from Haringey in north London. Gustavson, who had previously admitted to multiple charges, including those related to his own body modifications, is set to be sentenced separately in March.
In a different trial involving three other men convicted for similar incidents, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC disclosed that Gustavson identified himself as “the eunuch-maker” and participated in numerous extreme body-modification procedures, including the removal of other men’s genitals.
Earlier at the Old Bailey, it was outlined how these extreme body-modification processes are associated with a subculture where men opt for “nullos,” indicating genital nullification by the removal of the penis and testicles.
A third individual, 61-year-old Stefan Scharf, currently of no fixed address, did not enter a plea to the same charge, and his case has been adjourned for a week.
