Truro Surgeon Neil Hopper Struck Off Medical Register After Extreme Pornography Convictions
Neil Hopper, 50, a former NHS vascular surgeon, has been struck off the medical register by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. The decision on Friday followed his September conviction and sentencing to 32 months in prison, along with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, for insurance fraud and possessing extreme pornography.
Tribunal chair Samantha Gray stated that the panel determined Hopper posed "an extremely high level of risk to public protection with no demonstrable lack insight or remedial behaviour."
Hopper's convictions included the purchase of three videos featuring the clamping and removal of male genitalia. These videos were created by Marius Gustavson, who received a 22-year prison sentence in 2024 for offences related to mutilating paying customers and streaming the acts online.
Robert Dudley, representing the General Medical Council, highlighted that the extreme pornography and body modification videos acquired and viewed by Hopper "had been conducted to, and had resulted in, serious injury" to members of the public. Dudley asserted that it was apparent to the tribunal that Hopper was "sexually motivated by the videos and by his own amputation," which involved him freezing his own legs until they required removal. He added that Hopper's consumption of these videos and his association with their creator demonstrated a "blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the public."
Speaking from prison, Hopper stated, "I attended the tribunal not to change the outcome but to prove I understand the seriousness. I felt obliged to face the consequences in person. I do have principles, so I chose to face justice head on." He expressed disappointment at his inability to convey sufficient remorse or insight, acknowledging, "I'm not only ashamed of my actions, I'm appalled I was part of the machinery. I cannot convey how sorry I am. It's behaviour I find impossible to understand. I'm so, so sorry." Hopper claimed to have made progress with psychiatrists and psychologists since his actions, which he described as "inexcusable."
