A consultant vascular surgeon who falsely claimed he lost his legs to sepsis has been jailed for more than two and a half years after it was revealed he caused his own injuries with dry ice to satisfy a twisted s3xual fetish.

Neil Hopper, 49, told a national television audience that his amputations followed a battle with sepsis after a family camping trip. He was branded “the bravest surgeon in Britain” and even shortlisted in the European Space Agency’s search for an astronaut with a disability.

Hopper’s lies unravelled during the police investigation into “Eunuch Maker” Marius Gustavson, a self-styled ringleader who encouraged extreme body mutilation and is serving a life sentence. Hopper had bought videos from Gustavson’s website showing men undergoing castration and amputation, and exchanged more than 1,500 messages with him about his desire to lose his legs.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lee told the court that Hopper had long been obsessed with becoming an amputee and saw it as part of a s3xual interest. Defence lawyer Andrew Langdon KC said Hopper felt from a young age that he was “in the wrong body” and decided in 2019 to inflict “irreversible damage” on himself while staying with his in-laws.

The court heard his actions destroyed his personal and professional life. His wife is seeking divorce, he is expected to lose his home, and his medical career is over. He was suspended from the medical register in December 2023 after restrictions were placed on his work earlier that year.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, where Hopper had worked since 2013, said the case did not relate to his professional conduct and that there was no evidence patients had been put at risk. A spokesperson confirmed he was suspended in March 2023 after his arrest and urged former patients with concerns to contact the hospital’s patient experience team.