Former NHS surgeon who amputated his own legs for sick sexual fantasy is struck off

A former NHS surgeon who chopped off his own legs to fulfill a sexual fantasy has been struck off the GMC register.

Dr Neil Hopper used dry ice to freeze his legs to the extent that they required amputation – then claimed he had developed sepsis following a family camping trip.

Last year, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of possession of extreme pornographic images.

Hopper, who was a consultant vascular surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, had fraudulently claimed more than £466,000 in insurance payouts after the amputations.

In September, Truro Crown Court heard how, in 2019, Hopper used dry ice to freeze his legs to the extent that they required amputation.

Hopper did this to enact a sexual fantasy, with the surgeon also having bought and viewed amputation pornography from an illegal website known as ‘The Eunuch Maker‘.

The disgraced doctor, who performed amputations at the hospital, defrauded two insurance companies of £466,653 by falsely claiming his legs were amputated due to sepsis.

Hopper has now been struck off the GMC (General Medical Council) register by a tribunal with immediate effect, meaning he is now banned from working as a surgeon.

Dr Neil Hopper (pictured) chopped off his own legs to fulfill a sick sexual fantasy

He used dry ice to freeze his legs to the extent that they required amputation

In reaching its decision to strike off the former NHS surgeon, the panel found that Hopper ‘poses a risk to patient safety’, adding that the ban would ‘maintain public confidence in the medical profession’, The Sun reported.

The employment tribunal noted that the convict, who is still in prison, had ‘made no substantive submissions objecting to the imposition of an immediate order’.

The panel added: ‘This means that Dr Hopper’s registration will be suspended from today.

‘The substantive direction, as already announced, will take effect 28 days from the date when written notification is deemed to have been served upon him, unless an appeal is made in the interim.

‘If an appeal is made, the immediate order will remain in force until the appeal has concluded.’

Hopper’s sickening scheme to defraud insurance companies with claims that his legs had to be amputated after contracting sepsis – not that he chopped them off himself – came to light after he was investigated for paying to access a website called EnuchMaker, which sold videos of amputations and body modification, including penises being removed.

The website, which has since been shut down, offered pay-to-view access to videos of Marius Gustavson carrying out extreme body modifications and mutilations on paying customers.

Six men – Marius Gustavson, Janus Atkin, David Carruthers, Ashley Williams, Damien Byrne and Jacob Crimi-Appleby – were jailed for their involvement in the enterprise, which carried out male castration, penis removal and other ‘grisly’ procedures on males as young as 16.

Hopper even went on national TV and lied to the presenters about why his legs were amputated. Here, he is pictured speaking to Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on ITV’s This Morning in 2020

Last year, Hopper pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of possession of extreme pornographic images

Gustavson, who led the group, once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad and also froze his own leg so it needed to be amputated.

He netted more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021 after posting videos of various procedures on his Eunuch Maker website, the Old Bailey previously heard.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Gustavson, 46, was linked to at least 29 procedures and that there was ‘clear evidence of cannibalism’.

The six men were handed sentences ranging from four years to life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Gustavson pleaded guilty to various offences including five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for life in May 2024 and ordered to serve at least 22 years in prison.

Hopper, who even went on national TV and lied to presenters about the way he lost his legs, suffered the injuries in April 2019 which resulted in the below-the-knee amputations.

While he claimed the injuries to his limbs were the result of sepsis, he had in fact caused them himself by placing his legs into a mixture of ice and dry ice he had purchased online.

After Hopper was sentenced in September last year, Richard Parkhouse, of the CPS, said: ‘This is a highly unusual and shocking case which came to light during an investigation into a website selling extreme images of amputations and body modification.

In reaching its decision to strike off the former NHS surgeon, the panel found that Hopper ‘poses a risk to patient safety’

‘Hopper has a sexual fetish linked to amputation, and paid to access these images for his own gratification.

‘In his communications with the owner of the website, the truth about Hopper’s own injuries was revealed: that the damage that led to his double leg amputations had been self-inflicted.

‘Hopper failed to disclose this fact when making two insurance claims for his injuries, and fraudulently pocketed almost half a million pounds.’

Investigators found that Hopper had paid to access the website and had exchanged more than 5,000 messages and emails with Gustavson, including ones in which they discussed the double amputation of Hopper’s lower legs.

These exchanges included Gustavson providing Hopper with advice and guidance on how to freeze his legs.

A PayPal transaction revealed that Hopper made an online purchase of 20kg of dry ice pellets on April 14, 2019, just days before paramedics found him at home with serious injuries to his feet and legs on April 17.

Following the amputations, Hopper made insurance claims to Avia and Old Mutual Wealth that paid out £235,622.14 and £231,031.67 respectively, totalling £466,653.81.

At the time of Hopper’s conviction, a spokesman for Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘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.’