Man who cooked and ate human testicles in salad loses appeal

Wales Online

30-04-2025

Man who cooked and ate human testicles in salad loses appeal
Marius Gustavson also had his penis removed with a kitchen knife
Marius Gustavson, who led the extreme body modification ring (Metropolitan Police/PA)
The leader of an extreme body modification ring, who once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad, has lost a challenge against his sentence at the Court of Appeal. Marius Gustavson, who also had his penis removed with a kitchen knife, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years last year for his role in the enterprise, which carried out male castration, penis removal and other procedures on people as young as 16.
He challenged his sentence at the Court of Appeal in February alongside Janus Atkin, David Carruthers, Ashley Williams, Damien Byrnes and Jacob Crimi-Appleby, who all received jail terms of between three years and eight months and 12 years for their part in the plot.
‌
At the hearing earlier this year, lawyers for the men argued that sentencing guidelines used to determine how long they should be jailed for did not adequately take into account a scenario where people had given consent to be assaulted. But in a ruling on Wednesday, Lord Justice William Davis, Mr Justice Griffiths and Judge Simon Drew KC dismissed all six appeals.
‌
In the 25-page judgment, Lord Justice William Davis said that the sentencing judge 'carried out a difficult sentencing exercise' and that the case was 'extremely unusual'.
He said: 'The adjustments made to the sentences to allow for the unusual circumstances were reasonable and proportionate. The sentences were intended to give a message to anyone minded to engage in highly dangerous procedures involving body modifications.
'That reflected an appropriate purpose of sentencing.'
Article continues below
Lord Justice William Davis also said that they 'endorse the general approach taken by the judge in reflecting consent', and that the reduction in Gustavson's sentence for this was 'generous'.
He said: 'Because cases of consensual grievous bodily harm are rare, consistency must give way to the judge in each case assessing the issue of consent by reference to the individual circumstances of the case.'
He continued: 'The judge was correct to use the guideline to reach an appropriate sentence and then to make some deduction to allow for the element of consent.'
‌
The Old Bailey 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.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the court that Gustavson netted more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021 after posting videos of various procedures on his Eunuch Maker website.
The Norwegian once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad and also froze his own leg so it needed to be amputated, with Ms Carberry saying he was linked to at least 29 procedures and that there was 'clear evidence of cannibalism'.
‌
The court heard that the defendants used a wide variety of tools, including clamps used for animal castration, with body parts put up for auction online with a 'buy it now' button.
Gustavson also offered to sell the severed penis of one of his victims for hundreds of pounds, with some 22,000 subscribers paying to access videos on the Eunuch Maker website with varying levels of membership from 'free' to 'VIP' which cost £100.
He was arrested after he used a red-hot iron to brand a man's calf with the letters EM – for Eunuch Maker – and after he was detained, police found his penis in a drawer of his home in Haringey, north London, four years after it had been amputated.
‌
He later pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, making and distributing an indecent photograph of a child, and possession of criminal property.
The other defendants also admitted their part in the conspiracy relating to 13 victims. Atkin, Carruthers, and Williams, of Newport, Gwent, were jailed for 12 years, 11 years and four years, six months respectively for conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
Byrnes, of north London, and Crimi-Appleby, of Epsom, Surrey, were jailed after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Gustavson.
Article continues below
Byrnes was jailed for five years for removing Gustavson's penis with a kitchen knife on video at his home on February 18 2017.
Crimi-Appleby was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavson's leg, leading to the need for it to be amputated in February 2019.