'Eunuch Maker' ex-vicar sentenced to 3 years for nail scissors body modification

A retired vicar who was caught on video cutting a man's penis with nail scissors has been jailed for three years.

Geoffrey Baulcomb was seen performing a procedure, which involved enlarging the opening of a man’s urethra, in a nine-second video which was found on his own phone. The incident took place on January 4, 2020, the Old Bailey previously heard.

In June, the 79-year-old defendant, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, pleaded guilty to one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

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He previously admitted seven charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before December 14, 2022. Prosecutors said some of the material included moving images which had been on the eunuch maker website, run by 47-year-old Norwegian national Marius Gustavson.

Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years last year after a court heard he made almost £300,000 through his website, where thousands of users paid to watch procedures, including castrations. Baulcomb was said to have been an "acquaintance" of Gustavson, and the pair exchanged more than 10,000 messages with each other over a four-year period.

The Old Bailey was told last year that the extreme body modification group was linked to a subculture where men become 'nullos' - short for genital nullification. The practice involves men having their penis and testicles removed.

Gustavson and nine other men previously admitting to being involved in the 'Eunuch Maker' ring, which was described by one victim as having a "cult-like" atmosphere. The sentencing judge described the surgeries carried out by the group as "little short of human butchery".

Baulcomb was ordained as a priest in 1970 and worked in Chichester, West Sussex, according to the Church of England website. He previously admitted to distributing an indecent photo of a child in March 2020 and three counts of making indecent images of children on or before December 2022. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images, amounting to 195 images.

Baulcomb retired from full-time ministry in the Church of England in 2003. According to the diocese of Chichester, he applied for "permission to officiate", which allows clergy to officiate at church services even if they have retired, wheh he moved to Sussex the year after retiring.

However, Baulcomb was banned for life from exercising his Holy Orders after a tribunal last year heard he was issued with a caution after police found crystal meth and ketamine at his home in December 2022. He claimed experimenting with drugs or letting his Eastbourne home be used by those who take drugs would "better enable him to relate and minister to people with difficulties as part of his pastoral care."