Surgeon Neil Hopper imprisoned after the amputation of his own legs

A vascular surgeon of the NHS who had his own legs removed was imprisoned for two years and eight months for insurance fraud and having extreme pornography.

Neil Hopper, 49, from Truro, Cornwall, carried out hundreds of amputation operations before removing his own legs in 2019.

Turo Crown Court learned that he had lied to the insurers saying that leg injuries were the result of sepsis and not self-inflicted.

He learned that in May 2019, Hopper had knee amputations after a “mysterious disease”. In fact, he had used dry ice and ice to freeze his own legs to be removed, said prosecutor Nicholas Lee.

The court heard Hopper, who admitted two fraud chiefs and three of extreme pornography, had a “sexual interest in amputation”.

Justice James Adkin said during the conviction that he had accepted that Hopper, who had no previous conviction, was full of remorse.

However, the “level of damage” in three body mutilation videos which were the subject of pornography accusations, was “exceptionally high,” he said.

Hopper had both legs amputated after complaining that his feet were suffering.

He was treated for alleged sepsis before he was informed by surgeons that he should have his legs amputate and that he was operated on.

He did not tell the doctors the real cause of his injuries, the court learned.

The fraudulent insurance complaints of two companies totaled more than £ 466,000 that the court had heard.

Hopper had been tempted by “greed” said Mr. Lee.

He had sent a message to a friend about the statements saying that he should “milked,” said the court.

He “appreciated” the interest of the media in his case, said Mr. Lee in court.

“His motivations were a combination of obsession to eliminate the parts of his own body and a sexual interest in doing so,” he said.

“It seems to have been a long-standing ambition of its,” he said.

After the amputations, he was back to work in just under six months with prosthetic legs.

He was arrested in March 2023 and has been suspended in the medical register since December 2023.

Andrew Langdon, KC, said in attenuation that the offenses had been a “shock” for friends.

He said: “He [Hopper] committed to working at the service of others.

“The whole saga is very difficult to understand.”

Extreme pornography offenses were linked to bodily mutilation videos that Hopper had bought online and did not include children, the court said.

Hopper was identified following investigations on Marius Gustavson which led the eunuchmaker website.

Lee told court that Hopper had bought three videos on the website for £ 10 and £ 35, respectively, showing that men have readily removed their genitals.

He also exchanged about 1,500 messages with Gustavson on his own lower leg amputations and how he had done so, in particular by asking for the quantity of dry ice he used.

Gustavson was imprisoned in perpetuity with a minimum duration of 22 years at the old Bailey in 2024 for having directed a cycle of modification of the extreme body.

Hopper had undergone a body dysphoria since childhood and his feet were an “non -welcome supplement” and “persistent endless discomfort” for him, said Langdon.

Hopper did not regret operations, but “bitterly regrets” the “dishonesty” of their cause, he said.

After the operations, Hopper had been “totally exceeded by the support of friends and family, which made it even more difficult to tell them what had really happened”.

Hopper, originally from Abeystwyth, Ceredigion, had been employed by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) from 2013 until its judgment in March 2023.

A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust said after the case that convictions had not linked to Mr. Hopper’s “professional behavior” in his hospitals.

The trust had carried out “complete clinical journals of surgery” by Hopper “, in particular by initiating an independent clinical expert experienced to examine operating decisions,” they said.

“We want to reassure the public that our exhaustive surveys have found no evidence, whether to indicate a risk or damage to patients in our hospitals,” they said.

Deputy chief in chief Jim Pearce said after the case that the Devon and Cornwall police had “worked closely collaboration” with the trust and “none of the criminal accusations related to the professional driving of Hopper without risk for the patients he has treated in his work at the hospital identified in the investigation into the current police”.

However, the former Hopper patients, some of whom have suffered amputations, contacted a medical negligence company based in the southwest.

They said they were concerned about the treatment they received from Hopper, in the light of the criminal charges against him.

Mike Bird, partner at Active Law, said the case had caused “shock and serious concern” among his former patients.

“Some have undergone surgery that changes their life and fear now that it is not really necessary,” said Bird.

“Although we understand that the RCHT said that the accusations are not linked to its professional conduct and that there is apparently no evidence suggesting a risk for patients, it is such a serious situation that there must be a rigorous public inquiry.”

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would apply under the product of the Act 2022 crime to recover the money Hopper acquired by fraud.

Jason Abbot, 38, of Hayle, whose foot was amputated by Hopper in November 2022 after painful ankle arthritis, said that he had no concerns about his care.

“He was great, very favorable to the situation, [he gave] Me a lot of information on this subject and told me to have a very good reflection on this subject and I did it. “”

He said he “felt shocked” that Hopper was sentenced.

“I never thought he would do something like that.”

Hopper also worked at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Wales, for a period of training in general surgery in 2011, confirmed the health council of the University of Aneurin Bevan.

In an interview with the BBC in 2023, he also said that he had worked in Swansea and Bangor.

The relevant health advice was invited to confirm.

Additional report by Jenny Kumah