When Neil Hopper, a respected vascular surgeon from Cornwall, first appeared in the headlines, his story seemed almost inspirational. Here was a man who, after losing both legs, returned to the operating theatre, continued his medical career, and even aspired to become the world’s first disabled astronaut. Hopper’s tale was splashed across newspapers, celebrated on television, and featured in a moving S4C documentary, Drych: Camau Tua’r Ser, which aired in February 2023. He was even awarded a Brave Briton title for his resilience. But the true story, revealed in shocking detail in court this week, was far darker and more complex than anyone could have imagined.
According to BBC News, Hopper claimed that his amputations were the tragic result of sepsis contracted during a family camping trip in 2019. He told journalists, "You have to make a lot of sacrifices to be a surgeon and family time is one of them. I know that was a mistake." He spoke about how the ordeal had made him reassess his life, try new things, and even apply to NASA’s parastronaut program. He insisted, "My life is more interesting because of what's happened to me," and credited his wife for her unwavering support, saying, "This didn't happen to me, it happened to us."
For a while, the story held up. Hopper, who grew up in Aberystwyth and Swansea and was living in Truro, Cornwall, was seen as a symbol of hope and determination. He returned to work at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust just six months after his amputations and was lauded for his unique insight as a surgeon who had become an amputee himself. The media attention was considerable, and Hopper seemed to relish it. "He enjoyed the attention that this generated," the court was told, as reported by BBC News.
But behind the scenes, Hopper was living a lie. As revealed in court on September 4, 2025, he had not lost his legs to sepsis at all. In reality, Hopper had used ice and dry ice to freeze his own legs, causing such severe damage that amputation was inevitable. The court heard that he had suffered from body dysphoria since childhood, viewing his feet as an "unwelcome extra" and a source of "persisting never-ending discomfort." His obsession with amputation was not just psychological, but sexual in nature.
The details of Hopper’s secret life emerged through a police investigation into Marius Gustavson, known as the "Eunuch Maker," who ran an extreme body modification ring and was jailed for life in 2024. Hopper had exchanged around 1,500 messages with Gustavson, seeking advice on self-amputation and purchasing three videos from Gustavson’s website that depicted men willingly undergoing genital mutilation. In one message, Hopper confessed, "I've dreamt of this for 20 years." In another, he wrote, "It's going to be awesome being a double amputee." After the surgery, he messaged Gustavson again: "It feels so cool. No feet!"
As Cornwall Live reported, Hopper’s fascination with amputation was longstanding. He had carried out hundreds of such operations as a consultant vascular surgeon, but his fantasy ultimately became reality when he inflicted catastrophic injuries on his own legs. The court heard that Hopper’s psychological struggle was so profound that he viewed his actions as a form of personal liberation, rather than self-destruction.
Once his legs were amputated, Hopper resumed his career and even set his sights on space. In February 2021, he applied for the European Space Agency’s parastronaut program, which sought candidates with a doctorate in engineering or medicine, a disability below the knee, and fluency in a second language. Hopper fit the bill perfectly, even joking in the S4C documentary that his wife Rachel thought he was "completely crazy." By December 2021, he had advanced to the final 27 applicants, but the post ultimately went to British Paralympian John McFall. Hopper later joked to BBC Radio Cornwall that his wife was more interested in the insurance payout if the rocket exploded than in his astronaut ambitions.
But Hopper’s house of cards collapsed in March 2023, when he was arrested following the police investigation into Gustavson’s activities. By spring 2023, he was no longer working at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, and he was suspended from the medical register in December 2023. The charges against him became public in July 2025, stunning those who had followed his story. In court, Hopper pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud relating to insurance claims worth more than £466,000. He had lied to two insurance companies, claiming his injuries were the result of sepsis rather than self-inflicted harm, and quickly spent the money on luxury items such as home improvements, a campervan, and a hot tub. As BBC News revealed, Hopper even messaged a friend to say he should "milk this as much as possible." He also admitted to three counts of possessing extreme pornographic videos of bodily mutilations.
During sentencing, the judge described Hopper’s case as "very unique," a "saga," and "difficult to comprehend." Hopper expressed no regret for the amputations themselves, but told the court he "bitterly regrets" the dishonesty about their cause. His story, once a beacon of perseverance, had become a cautionary tale about deception and the hidden complexities of human psychology.
Hopper’s fall from grace was as swift as it was dramatic. The documentary that once celebrated his recovery now stands as an unwitting chronicle of a man’s descent into obsession and fraud. His Instagram biography, perhaps more telling than intended, reads: "12% robotic, 100% idiot." For those who believed in his story, the revelations were not just shocking—they were deeply unsettling. As one journalist who had interviewed Hopper reflected, "As a journalist you never quite know where a story will take you."
On Thursday, September 4, 2025, Neil Hopper was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. The case has left many in the medical community and beyond grappling with questions about trust, mental health, and the lengths to which some will go to realize their most private fantasies. Hopper’s story, once an inspiration, now serves as a stark reminder that not everything is as it seems—even in the most public of lives.
