Eunuch maker 'told male escort "well, that's one off the bucket list" after having his penis cut off and placed it on his belly', court hears

Three members of a body modification cult who removed the leg, penis and nipple of their ringleader known as ‘The Eunuch Maker’ are facing jail.

Former nurse Nathaniel Arnold, 48, Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, and male prostitute Damien Byrnes, 36, all removed the body parts from now wheelchair bound Norwegian Marius Gustavson.

Gustavson, 46, led the body modification plot which made up to £200,000 by livestreaming procedures online.

Arnold, Crimi-Appleby and Brynes admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Crimi-Appleby froze Gustavson’s leg causing it to require amputation, Brynes removed his penis with a vegetable knife, while Arnold was involved in the partial removal of his nipple.

Arnold also admitted stealing Lidocaine while working as nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 21 February 2019, and possession of extreme pornographic images.

The practice is linked to a subculture where men become ‘nullos’ - short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC, told the court Byrnes removed Gustavson’s penis on 18 February 2017 at Gustavson’s home in Grand Parade, Tottenham.

Byrnes had initially been hired by Gustavson for escort services and in December 2016 he agreed to remove his penis for a fee of £500, saying he was in debt.

Texting Gustavson, he said: ‘I have no issue with it but won’t you loose a lot of blood* like nearly die.’

Gustavson then said: ‘So plan Friday. I will be ready injected with local anaesthetic and banded to reduce bleeding.

‘Then u come in. Money on desk I’m in bed legs tied. U make sure gag is secure and tie me down brutal. Then take the knife slice off nut sack. Then slice off. Then let me loose.’

Byrnes told Gustavson he was ‘actually kinda turned on a bit’ and requested a copy of the video that would be taken for himself.

He said: ‘If something goes wrong during or after, just for assurance, you did it to yourself. I’m not getting in trouble for this.’

He said he would be wearing a balaclava so his face would not appear in the video.

But by 7 January 2017 Gustavson had reduced the fee to £50.

Byrnes said: ‘I’ve had enough man. I’m cutting your c*ck and balls off for 50 sh*tty quid when I was led to believe it’s 500*’.

A week later he said: ‘Today’s the day man. Snip snip. C’mon I want 500. You want this. The investor wants to watch.’

He then asked for £1,000 to have sex and then castrate Gustavson.

Gustavson replied that the procedure was ‘a F*ING BIG THING’ and Byrnes criticised him for ‘terrible excuses.’

Ms Carberry said: ‘For the next three weeks, there were discussions about the practicalities of the procedure, and whether they would have sex beforehand.

‘Mr Byrnes’ main concern was with money. On a number of occasions Gustavson arranged a date, only to back out shortly beforehand.

‘It is plain that this was a considerable source of frustration to Byrnes, who chased the money that he was owed and sent large numbers of messages about it.’

On 16 February Gustavson told Byrnes he was cutting another person and Byrnes could be the ‘sexy, kinky helper’. He boasted he had ‘done over 26 guys in total, 18 totally done’.

On 18 February the procedure was recorded from two angles.

Ms Carberry said: ‘Mr Gustavson sits naked on the left side of the bed with a tube inserted into his urethra.

‘Mr Brynes asks, “’how are you feeling?” and Mr Gustavson replies that he “didn’t feel anything when I pushed in the needles”. A reference to Mr Gustavson self-anaesthetising.

‘There is a discussion about Mr Gustavson being tied and gagged. Byrnes then straps him to the bed by his wrists and ankles. A band, designed to cut off the blood flow, is visible around the base of his penis.

‘Byrnes places a gag around Mr Gustavson’s head and mouth and he kneels at the foot of the bed between Mr Gustavson’s legs. He is wearing gloves and holding a red kitchen knife in his right hand.

‘Mr Gustavson’s body is shaking and he is saying “No, no.” From other evidence it is very likely that this “fear” was part of an act for the camera.’

Byrnes then removed the penis.

Ms Carberry said: ‘Byrnes holds it and pulls the tube out of it and shows it to Mr Gustavson who, once ungagged, tells Mr Byrnes to place the severed penis on his belly, which he does.

‘Mr Byrnes then lifts the severed penis and holds it towards Mr Gustavson’s face. Mr Gustavson licks the end of it and declares that it is “awesome”.

Gustavson said his wound looks “okay-ish” but his breathing becomes erratic and his right arm shakes and then his legs.

‘Mr Byrnes tells him to, “Chill out”. He then instructs Byrnes to get him a clamp from the top drawer which he does and he places it towards the stump of his severed penis.

‘Mr Byrnes is heard to say, “Well that’s one off the bucket list. I never expected that one”.

‘Mr Gustavson doesn’t answer and continues working at the wound site.

‘Mr Gustavson continues to work at the wound site and says, “I so don’t want to have to go to hospital”. He tells Byrnes that he did a good job.’

After Byrnes left, Gustavson called an ambulance and told the operator: ‘I tried to do some surgery on my c*ck’ and that it was ‘a little bit more than a circumcision’.

He was taken to the Whittington Hospital for treatment and treated for infection of the urethra.

After the procedure Gustavson did not pay Byrnes and he threatened to go to the police and tell them about Gustavson castrating a 16-year-old.

Gustavson said he would report Byrnes for ‘threats, blackmail, and cutting off my c*ck.’

He said he had checked that what he had done was legal with his solicitor but that what Byrnes did was illegal.

He also said police were aware of the euncuhmakers.com website.

Between 2016 and 2018 Gustavson sent Byrnes money on 27 occasions.

Byrnes told police Gustavson had advertised for someone to assist him in becoming a eunuch on GROWLR, a gay dating app for ‘bears’- a larger and hairy gay man.

He claimed he threw up on the way home after performing the procedure.

He cried when admitting he was a prostitute and said his motive had been purely financial.

The operations were uploaded to Gustavson’s ‘Eunuch Maker’ website which subscribers would pay to watch.

The conspiracy is said to have involved up to 29 extreme body modifications relating to 13 alleged victims who are being safeguarded by specialist detectives.

Crimi-Appleby, of Epsom, Surrey, Arnold, of South Kensington, and Byrnes, of Tottenham, admitted causing GBH with intent.

Gustavson, of Tottenham, north London, admits conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and one count of possessing criminal property, namely money and will appear in court this afternoon.

He also admits making and distributing two indecent videos of a child between January 2017 and January 2020.

David Carruthers, 60, and Janus Atkin, 37, from South Wales, deny conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Gustavson’s alleged ‘righthand man’ surgeon Peter Wates, 66, has admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

He was said to have a major role as surgeon in a large number of procedures.

Romanian Ion Ciucur, 28, who works in a hotel in Gretna Green, Scotland, admits conspiracy to cause GBH with intent in relation to two modifications.

Ashley Williams, 31, has admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Atkin at his home in Newport, south Wales, on 7 November 2017.

German Stefan Scharf, 61, is charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

He is accused of taking part in a single procedure by removing a testicle in an apartment in Camden in July 2019.

Gustavson, Scharf and Ciucur are remanded in custody with the others are on conditional bail, including curfew and residence.

Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, the Recorder of London, will sentence the trio later today.