An NHS vascular surgeon who carried out hundreds of amputations has admitted to lying to insurers over the removal of his own legs and possessing extreme pornography from a man dubbed the “Eunuch Maker”.
Neil Hopper, 49, whose legs were amputated below the knee, told insurers that his injuries were the “result of sepsis and were not self-inflicted”, intending to make a gain.
Appearing at Truro Crown Court on Thursday, he was jailed for 32 months after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation between 3 June and 26 June 2019.
He also admitted three charges of possessing extreme pornographic images, relating to videos by a website called the Eunuch Maker, where users paid for films of amputations and other extreme body modifications.
Judge James Adkin, the honorary recorder of Truro, heard Hopper was identified following investigations into Marius Gustavson who ran the Eunuch Maker website.
Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years at the Old Bailey last year for leading an extreme body modification ring, which carried out male castration, penis removal and other procedures on people as young as 16.
The Norwegian national once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad, and also had his own penis removed with a kitchen knife, and froze his own leg so it was amputated.
The court heard last year that extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.
Gustavson netted more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021 after posting videos of various procedures on his Eunuch Maker website.
In 2020, Hopper was named one of the bravest people in Britain after winning the Against All Odds title at the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons 2020, in a virtual ceremony hosted by BBC Breakfast.
The surgeon has not worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust since March 2023.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service’s interim orders tribunal placed restrictions on his practice the following month while the General Medical Council investigated, and he has been suspended from the medical register since December 2023.
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman said: “The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, where Mr Hopper has been employed, has worked closely with Devon and Cornwall Police throughout the investigation.”
A hospital trust spokesman added: “The charges do not relate to Mr Hopper’s professional conduct and there has been no evidence to suggest any risk to patients.
“Mr Hopper worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals from 2013 until he was suspended from duty in March 2023, following his initial arrest.
“Former patients with any questions or concerns about their treatment can contact the Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ patient experience team.”
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