Newport man admits GBH after removing another man’s testicle

A man has been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent after removing another man’s testicle.

Ashley Williams, 31, maimed the man in November 2017, the Old Bailey in London heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the court the offence “relates to the removal of (a man’s) testicle” by Williams.

Williams, from Newport in Gwent, pleaded not guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit GBH.

The charge claims that between January 2016 and January 2022, Williams and others conspired to commit GBH through the “removal of penes/testicles/penile nerves/castration by clamping/insertion of needles into genitalia/cutting of penis”.

David Carruthers, 60, Janus Atkin, 38, also from Newport, and Romanian national Ion Ciucur, 29, also pleaded not guilty to this same charge as they appeared alongside Williams in the dock on Friday.

The Crown said it would not pursue a trial against Williams on the conspiracy to commit GBH count after he pleaded guilty to the testicle removal offence.

Body modification

In May, Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom in Surrey, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Marius Gustavson, the alleged ringleader of an extreme body modifications group, in February 2019.

Gustavson, originally from Norway, is alleged to have led in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving up to 29 offences of extreme body modifications on 13 victims, the removal and trade of body parts and the uploading of videos.

During a previous hearing at the Old Bailey, Gustavson, 45, from Haringey, north London, pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to three men on dates in 2018 and 2019.

The charges relate to the alleged clamping and splitting of the genitals of the men, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Gustavson has also admitted a separate charges of making and distributing indecent videos of a child.

He appeared via video link on Friday but was not asked to enter pleas on other charges including the conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm count.

Two more men previously admitted removing other body parts belonging to Gustavson, who is accused of carrying out castrations and broadcasting the footage on his “eunuch maker” website.

Nurse

Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, admitted the partial removal of Gustavson’s nipple, stealing anaesthetic from the hospital where he worked and possessing extreme pornography.

Damien Byrnes, 35, from Tottenham, north London, admitted removing Gustavson’s penis.

Gustavson’s alleged “right-hand man”, Peter Wates, 66, from Croydon in south London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm between January 1 2016 and January 1 2022.

Wates was alleged to have been involved with nine of the 29 incidents.

The case relates to the practice of extreme body modifications, including the removal of penises and testicles.

The procedures were allegedly filmed and uploaded to the “eunuch maker” website Gustavson ran, and subscribers paid to watch.

The defendants were arrested after police raids in London, Scotland and South Wales.

They are said to have been part of a society in which people willingly undergo extreme body modification.

The practice is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos” – short for genital nullification – by having their penis and testicles removed.

A further case management hearing was scheduled at the same court on September 8 2023.