- Neil Hopper, a UK vascular surgeon, was jailed for fraudulent insurance claims and self-inflicted amputations
- Hopper pleaded guilty to possessing extreme pornographic videos depicting genital mutilation
- He claimed nearly £163,500 in insurance by falsely attributing his amputations to sepsis
A UK judge jailed a vascular surgeon Thursday after he admitted making fraudulent insurance claims that involved having his legs amputated following self-inflicted injuries made "in part for sexual gratification".
The case saw surgeon Neil Hopper also plead guilty to possessing extreme pornographic images, relating to videos by an extreme body modifications website called the EunuchMaker, which depicted genital mutilation.
Judge James Adkin handed Hopper, 49, of Cornwall in southwest England, a 32-month sentence, telling the surgeon he must serve 40 percent of it behind bars before being considered for parole.
The judge also made the surgeon in England's state-run National Health Service (NHS) the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which restricts offenders' behaviour to protect the public.
Hopper, a married father who had carried out hundreds of NHS amputation operations, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation after making insurance claims for nearly £163;500,000 ($671,000) following his own amputations.
In 2019 he used dry ice to freeze his legs but on admission to hospital said he had been unwell with diarrhoea and vomiting and he was treated for suspected sepsis.
He eventually underwent a double foot amputation later followed by a further operation to remove his legs below the knees.
Becoming an amputee had long been an ambition of his and he had a sexual interest in it, the court heard.
"You subsequently made fraudulent insurance claims ... by representing that the injuries were organic, caused by sepsis, when you caused the injury seemingly at least in part for sexual gratification," Adkin said as he sentenced him.
Hopper was identified following investigations into Marius Gustavson, who ran the EunuchMaker site.
The ringleader of the site had his penis and leg removed and assisted others in cutting off body parts, before being jailed for life by a London judge last year.
Hopper had purchased three videos from the website, showing men having their genitals removed, and also exchanged thousands of messages with Gustavson about his own amputations, the prosecution told the Cornish court.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust where Hopper worked said in a statement that while the details were "shocking" it was "important to stress that the convictions do not relate to Mr Hopper's professional conduct".
"During a thorough and painstaking police investigation there were no links found to any patients he treated during his work," it added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
