Two men have admitted removing body parts of a man who is accused of carrying out castrations and broadcasting the footage on his “eunuch maker” website.
Nathan Arnold, 48, a nurse from South Kensington, west London, admitted the partial removal of Marius Gustavson’s nipple in the summer of 2019.
Damien Byrnes, 35, from Tottenham, north London, admitted removing Gustavson’s penis on 18 February 2017.
Gustavson, who is originally from Norway, is said to have been the ringleader in a conspiracy involving up to 29 offences of extreme body modifications, the removal of body parts, the trade in body parts and the uploading of videos.
The Metropolitan police said charges in the case related to 13 alleged victims.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Arnold and Byrnes pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to 45-year-old Gustavson.
Arnold also pleaded guilty to the theft of the local anaesthetic lidocaine from the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, where he worked in 2016, and accepted a further offence of possessing extreme pornography.
Peter Wates, Gustavson’s alleged “right-hand man”, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm between 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2022. The 66-year-old, from Croydon, south London, is alleged to have been involved with nine of the 29 incidents.
The prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the court that Wates was a “key player who had a role as a surgeon in a very large number of procedures”.
The three defendants appeared in court alongside Gustavson, and five other defendants who were not asked to enter pleas.
The defendants are alleged to have performed extreme body modifications, including the removal of penises and testicles.
The procedures were allegedly filmed and uploaded to Gustavson’s “eunuch maker” website, which subscribers would pay to watch.
Gustavson, from Tottenham, north London, is charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent between 1 January 2016 and 1 January last year and five counts of causing grievous bodily harm to five alleged victims.
The GBH charges include the removal of a man’s penis, the clamping of another’s testicles, and the freezing of a leg which required amputation.
He is further charged with acquiring or possessing criminal property, making an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child.
The Romanian national Ion Ciucur, 29, who worked in a hotel in Gretna Green, Scotland, is said to have been involved in two incidents in the alleged conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Other alleged conspirators are David Carruthers, 60, Janus Atkin, 38, and Ashley Williams, 31 – who are all from Newport in Gwent, south Wales.
Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom, Surrey, who is accused of freezing Gustavson’s leg requiring amputation, is charged with causing GBH with intent.
The defendants are said to have been part of a society in which people willingly undergo extreme body modification. It is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos” – short for genital nullification – by having their penis and testicles removed.
The Metropolitan police said in a statement last month: “We encourage anyone who has had similar experiences to seek medical advice from their local sexual health clinic or GP.”
Gustavson, Wates and Ciucur attended court by video link from Wandsworth Prison.
The other six defendants, who are on bail, sat side by side in the dock at the Old Bailey.
The judge, Mark Lucraft KC, set a further hearing for 31 May and a plea and case management hearing on 30 June.
