The medical world has been rocked by the revelation that Neil Hopper, a respected NHS vascular surgeon, orchestrated the amputation of his own legs and then lied about the cause to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in insurance payouts. Hopper, 49, from St Erme, Truro, Cornwall, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on September 4, 2025, after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of possessing extreme pornography. The details of the case, which were heard at Truro Crown Court, have left both the medical community and the public reeling.
Hopper’s story was, until recently, one of apparent triumph over adversity. Having carried out hundreds of amputation operations himself, he became a figure of public admiration after losing both his legs in 2019. He appeared on various media platforms, including a 2020 episode of This Morning and a BBC interview in 2023, claiming that he developed sepsis during a family camping trip, which led to the amputation of his legs. "My life is more interesting because of what's happened to me," he told the BBC, reflecting on his journey after the surgeries. He was even named one of the bravest people in Britain at the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons 2020, and his story was featured in an S4C documentary.
But behind the accolades and public sympathy, a much darker truth was unfolding. According to the BBC, the court heard that Hopper had not lost his legs to sepsis or any illness, but instead had used ice and dry ice to freeze them, making them non-viable and necessitating amputation. Prosecutor Nicholas Lee told the court that Hopper’s actions were driven by a long-standing obsession with removing parts of his own body and a sexual interest in amputation. "His motivations were a combination of obsession with removing parts of his own body and a sexual interest in doing so," Lee said. "It seems to have been a long-standing ambition of his."
Between June 3 and July 20, 2019, Hopper dishonestly claimed to insurers Aviva and Old Mutual Health that his legs had been amputated because of illness rather than as a result of self-inflicted injury. These fraudulent claims resulted in payouts totaling more than £466,000. In a message to a friend, Hopper even admitted he should "milk it," referring to the insurance claims, as reported by the BBC.
Not only did Hopper deceive insurance companies, but he also misled his colleagues, friends, and family. After the amputations, he returned to work in just under six months with prosthetic legs, determined to prove that disability would not end his career. He told S4C, "I was determined to go back to work. I wanted to prove that they were completely wrong. Throughout my career I'd always tried to imagine what it was like to have an amputation, so I didn't expect to get the answer. You won't have a chance to see what it's like on the other side of the knife. My experience has made me think more about how I communicate with patients. I believe it has made me a better doctor."
Hopper’s deception extended to the public eye. He appeared on television, gave interviews, and even applied to become a parastronaut as part of the European Space Agency’s Parastronaut Feasibility Project, using his story of overcoming adversity as a springboard. Privately, however, he was battling body dysphoria and a deep-seated distaste for his feet, which he described as "an unwelcome extra" and a "persisting never-ending discomfort," according to his defense counsel Andrew Langdon KC. "From a young age, he felt he was in the wrong body," Langdon told the court. "He suffered body dysphoria and a particular distaste for his feet. They never felt part of him; they felt as an unwelcome extra."
The court also heard that Hopper had a sexual interest in amputation and had deliberately sought out extreme pornographic videos depicting genital mutilation. These videos were purchased from the EunuchMaker website, which was run by Marius Gustavson. Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years at the Old Bailey in 2024 for leading an extreme body modification ring. The ring was notorious for carrying out male castration, penis removal, and other procedures on people as young as 16, and for posting videos of these acts online. Gustavson himself had his own penis removed and froze his leg for amputation, and once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad, according to court reports cited by the BBC and other outlets.
Hopper was identified during investigations into Gustavson’s activities. The extreme pornography charges against Hopper related specifically to three videos of body mutilation from the EunuchMaker website. Judge James Adkin, sentencing Hopper, remarked that the "level of harm" in these videos was "exceptionally high." He also noted that Hopper had no previous convictions and accepted that he was remorseful, but the gravity of the offenses could not be ignored.
In the aftermath of his arrest in March 2023, Hopper was suspended from the medical register in December 2023, and the General Medical Council placed restrictions on his practice earlier that year. He has not worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust since March 2023, where he had been employed since 2013. The Trust issued a statement reassuring the public: "The charges do not relate to Mr Hopper's professional conduct and there has been no evidence to suggest any risk to patients." This sentiment was echoed by a former patient, Jason Abbot, who told the BBC, "He was great, very supportive of the situation, [he gave] me loads of information about it and told me to have a really good think about it and I did. I never thought he would do anything like that."
Despite these reassurances, the case has caused alarm among former patients, some of whom have reached out to medical negligence firm Enable Law. Mike Bird, a partner at the firm, stated, "Some have had life-changing surgery and are now worried it was not really needed. While we understand that RCHT have said that the charges do not relate to his professional conduct and there is apparently no evidence suggesting any risk to patients, this is such a serious situation that there must be a rigorous public investigation." Enable Law is also working with the Limbless Association to advocate for psychological and medical support for Hopper’s former patients.
Hopper’s case is a stark reminder of the complex intersection between personal struggles, professional responsibilities, and public trust. It has left the medical community, his patients, and the wider public grappling with difficult questions about how such a deception could go undetected for so long and what safeguards are needed to prevent similar cases in the future.
The story of Neil Hopper, once celebrated as a symbol of resilience, now stands as a cautionary tale of deception and the hidden battles that can lie beneath even the most inspirational public personas.
