'Eunuch Maker' used rare condition as defence to why he amputated men's penises

Warning: This article discusses graphic violence and cannibalism which some readers may find distressing.

A man who was handed a life sentence after castrating men on livestream for a hefty subscription bundle, has attempted to blame his actions on a rare medical condition.

Marius Gustavson, who inspired a Cornwall surgeon to amputate his own legs, is currently serving his minimum prison term of 22 years after losing his whirlwind trial in 2024.

Gustavon, whose crimes are followed in the documentary called The Eunuch Maker explores the gruesome castrations and dark underbelly of those allegedly consenting to have the procedure carried out on themselves.

It revealed that the ‘Eunuch Maker’ would clamp and remove male genitalia at his London flat, with the footage being streamed to paying customers.

The Norwegian man was nearly caught multiple times when complications would arise, however, he would lie and claim that the person he had castrated had injured themselves, such as the time he claimed a victim had dropped a kitchen knife...on his penis.

When police raided his flat, they found human body parts kept as 'trophies', including testicles in takeaway trays stashed in his freezer, and his own penis which he still kept four years after having it amputated.

The BBC reports that Gustavson's legal team attempted to mount a defence on the grounds that he just wanted to 'put a smile on people's faces' if they, like him, suffered from body integrity dysphoria (BID), a rare condition where a person feels as though a body part doesn't belong to them and they want it removed.

However, the prosecution said that even if such a thing were true and potentially explained some of Gustavson's actions regarding his own body, including having himself castrated by someone else who was sentenced, it didn't explain everything else he did to other people.

They said: "We suggest that diagnosis - if it exists - may explain why it is Mr Gustavson acted as he did to have his own body maimed and mutilated, but does not explain why he made a lucrative business out of mutilating others."

As part of his website, the 'Eunuch Maker', he sold subscriptions where people could pay up to £100 for an annual package which let them watch the livestreams of him castrating people.

Marius Gustavson was handed 22 years in prison for his crimes (Getty Stock Images)

By the time, it was shut down the website had over 22,000 subscribers and Gustavson had made around £300,000 from it.

Court documents also indicate that Gustavson sold human body parts, like human tissue, online, with a 'buy it now' referred to, while some of the body parts cut off during the castrations were seemingly cooked and consumed by Gustavson.

Speaking to LADbible about The Eunuch Maker, Marcel Theroux talked about meeting with 'voluntary eunuchs', who are people who had chosen to be castrated. He said the people he spoke to did seem to have dysphoria.

He said: "You do get a sense these are people with a terrible dysphoria who experience parts of their body as not their own, and are willing to go through a very extreme procedure to get rid of it."

Theroux said that one of the people he interviewed for the documentary was 'someone who's been through a terrible trauma, and he identifies it with his penis'.

"They're looking for a way of resolving their conflicts, this unhappiness they feel, and it made them very vulnerable to Marius, who was offering himself as a solution," he said.

The Eunuch Maker is available to watch on Crime+Investigation and Crime+Investigation Play.