A vascular surgeon has been struck off for self-inflicting amputations for sexual gratification. Neil Hopper, 50, a former consultant at Treliske Hospital in Truro, Cornwall, was erased from the medical register by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) on Friday, May 29, 2026. The decision followed his conviction last year for a fraud that netted more than £466,000 from insurance companies and for possessing extreme pornographic images.
Hopper had already been jailed for 32 months at Truro Crown Court in September 2025 after pleading guilty to two charges of fraud by false representation and three charges of possessing extreme pornography. He was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to serve 40 per cent of his sentence.
Fraud and Fetish
On April 15, 2019, while his wife and children were away from their home in St Erme, Hopper immersed his feet in dry ice. He messaged Marius Gustavson, the ringleader of the extreme body modification website EunuchMaker, telling him: “It’s going to be awesome being a double amputee.” The self-inflicted injuries required below-the-knee amputations on May 17, 2019.
Between June 3 and July 20, 2019, Hopper submitted fraudulent claims to two insurers – Aviva and Old Mutual Health – asserting that his legs had been amputated due to sepsis following a family camping accident. In reality, the amputations were self-inflicted to satisfy a sexual fetish. He received £235,622 from one company and £231,031 from the other, totalling £466,653.81. The money was used to buy a campervan, a hot tub, a wood burner, home renovations, and prosthetics.
Hopper even appeared on ITV’s This Morning to publicise his false story of triumph over sepsis, and was featured in an S4C documentary. In 2020 he won the “Against All Odds” title at the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons and later applied to the European Space Agency’s para-astronaut programme, making the shortlist. His Instagram biography read: “12% robotic 100% idiot.”
The fraud and his possession of extreme pornographic images – videos from the EunuchMaker website, run by Marius Gustavson, which depicted genital mutilation – were uncovered during a wider investigation into Gustavson, who was himself jailed for life in May 2024 with a minimum term of 22 years. Gustavson’s network had thousands of registered users and operated on a large scale, filming castrations and penis removals in non-sterile conditions. Gustavson had also self-amputated his own leg using dry ice.
Hopper’s defence counsel later suggested he suffered from body dysphoria and that his feet were an “unwelcome extra”. The surgeon himself expressed remorse for the dishonesty about the cause of his injuries, but not for the operations themselves. According to the research material, he told a family member he wanted to “milk this for as much as possible”.
Tribunal’s Reasoning
The MPTS tribunal concluded that Hopper lacked insight into the seriousness of the allegations, particularly concerning the pornography and the fraudulent insurance claims. It stated: “A surgeon receiving sexual gratification from amputation or mutilation pornography is not compatible with how the public should perceive a competent doctor.” The tribunal noted that Hopper’s specialism as a vascular surgeon made his behaviour “particularly concerning”.
It found that the fraud elements of the case “would seriously damage public confidence in the profession”, highlighting the “serious dishonesty and subsequent fraudulent financial gain”. Hopper had lied to numerous medical professionals to enable his claims, the tribunal noted.
Hopper had argued that he wished to separate his personal “shortcomings” from his professional life, but the tribunal rejected this, saying: “The public and the profession expect a certain standard of behaviour in both the personal and professional life of a registrant.” His behaviours, the tribunal added, “demonstrated a blatant disregard of all standards expected”.
Hopper himself told the hearing that his striking off was “inevitable” and did not seek to remain on the medical register. The tribunal ruled that no sanction other than erasure would adequately uphold public confidence and protect the public, citing an “extremely high risk to public protection”. An immediate erasure order was handed down.
In the wake of the case, law firms including Enable Law and Switalskis Solicitors have called for independent public investigations into Hopper’s past surgical practices, citing concerns from former patients that his personal predilections and dishonesty could have influenced his professional judgment. The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has stated that Hopper’s convictions do not relate to his professional conduct and that there is no evidence of risk to patients, but the tribunal’s own conclusion of an “extremely high risk to public protection” underscored the severity with which it viewed his actions.