Marius Gustavson, 46, was involved in procedures that were ‘little short of human butchery’, UK court heard. The leader of a “grisly and gruesome” extreme body modification network who streamed mutilations on his “eunuch maker” website has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Marius Gustavson, 46, was the “arch manipulator” of vulnerable victims and was said to have been involved in at least 29 procedures, which were “little short of human butchery”, the Old Bailey in London heard.

The “large-scale, dangerous and extremely disturbing” four-year enterprise included castrations, the use of clamps to crush testicles, penis removals, the freezing of limbs and administering electric shocks to a 16-year-old boy, which were streamed on Gustavson’s website.

The “busy and lucrative” business is estimated to have taken more than £300,000 from its 22,841 paying subscribers across the world between 2017 and 2021.

Gustavson, who had previously admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, appeared for sentence via video link alongside six other men who had all admitted their part in the scheme. The charges relate to 13 victims who are being safeguarded by specialist detectives.

Judge Mark Lucraft, the recorder of London and most senior judge at the Old Bailey, said as he announced the sentence: “Gustavson, you are very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise. The business you set up was one that was both busy and lucrative. As with all the others involved, you have no medical qualifications.”

He added: “The footage uploaded was extremely explicit and made available to paying subscribers no doubt so they could watch it for their sexual gratification […] Like-minded individuals were recruited by you, Gustavson, to assist in what became a large-scale, dangerous, and extremely disturbing enterprise.”

The prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the three-day sentencing hearing that there was “clear evidence” of cannibalism and that Gustavson had cooked testicles for lunch in an “artfully arranged salad platter”. He also kept numerous body parts as “trophies” in a fridge at his home in Harringay, north London and “sold” severed genitalia online.