A surgeon from Cornwall who carried out hundreds of amputations has appeared in court accused of lying over how he lost his own legs and encouraging another man to remove the body parts of others.
Neil Hopper, 49, a vascular surgeon from Truro, was charged with three offences after a two-and-a-half-year investigation by Devon and Cornwall police.
Hopper formerly worked for the Royal Cornwall hospitals NHS trust and has previously said he lost his legs to sepsis in 2019.
Devon and Cornwall police said he faced two counts of fraud by false representation.
The particulars are that 2019 he “dishonestly made a false representation to insurers, namely the injuries to his legs were the result of sepsis and were not self-inflicted, intending to make a gain”. He allegedly intended to make £235,622 from one insurer and £231,031 from another.
He was also charged with encouraging or assisting in the commission of grievous bodily harm.
It is alleged that between August 2018 and December 2020 he bought videos from a website called The Eunuch Maker showing the removal of limbs and “encouraged Marius Gustavson to remove body parts of third parties”.
Hopper, who appeared from custody, did not enter pleas to the three charges during a 40-minute hearing at Cornwall magistrates court in Bodmin.
A bail application was made, but he was remanded to appear before a judge at Truro crown court on 26 August.
The police said Royal Cornwall hospitals NHS trust, where Hopper has been employed, had worked closely with officers throughout the investigation.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “The charges do not relate to Mr Hopper’s professional conduct and there has been no evidence to suggest any risk to patients. Mr Hopper worked at the Royal Cornwall hospitals from 2013 until he was suspended from duty in March 2023, following his initial arrest.”
Former patients with any questions or concerns about their treatment can contact the Royal Cornwall hospitals’ patient experience team on 01872 25 2793, or email rcht.patientexperience@nhs.net.
In a BBC interview in 2023, Hopper spoke of the amputations. He said: “I do quite a lot of amputations and the one thing that kept going around in my mind was power tools. The thought of power tools being used on me was icky. It was really weird.”
He said he recovered quickly. He was told it would take him about three months to be able to walk. “I did it in three hours,” he said. “I hate to say it but I’m more active since I lost my legs than I was before.” He was shortlisted in the European Space Agency’s search for an astronaut with a disability.
