A retired vicar who was part of an extreme body modification ring run by a man who called himself the "eunuch maker" has been jailed for three years.
Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to causing grievous bodily harm. The former vicar, wearing a black suit and tie, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
Baulcomb was found with a phone containing a nine-second video of him using nail scissors to perform a procedure on a man's penis in January 2020.
He also admitted to seven other charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before December 14, 2022.
Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb pleaded guilty
Baulcomb was ministering during his retirement at the ancient St Mary the Virgin church in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
Detectives found Baulcomb was in phone contact with Marius Gustavson, who ran an extreme body modification website from his north London home.
Mr Gustavson, nicknamed the "Eunuch Maker" 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.
The court heard how thousands of users paid to watch procedures, including castrations.
Baulcomb pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to being involved in the ring
| PAMatthew Gowen, mitigating, said Baulcomb had been a respected figure in his community and within the church, where he carried out pastoral work with vulnerable people.
He told the court: "A number of people have known Mr Baulcomb for a considerable period of time.
"Those that have known him within the church environment know of the good work, the exemplary work he has done, not just as a vicar but also in the wider community.”
Mr Gowen said the majority of Baulcomb’s contact with the victim was online and “it is clear he regarded Mr Gustavson as a fantasist”.
He added: “It is abundantly clear and obviously relevant that [the victim] was not simply consenting to the procedure. There are many messages showing he was very much the instigator of what happened. He described it as a fun and very enjoyable night.”
After the tribunal hearing,The Diocese of Chichester immediately withdrew Baulcomb’s permission to officiate when informed of the arrest and he "was asked to stop attending his local church."
Baulcomb was issued with a caution after officers found crystal meth and ketamine at his home in December 2022. He had claimed in a police interview experimenting with drugs would "better enable him to relate and minister to people with difficulties as part of his pastoral care".
The court heard how Baulcomb was an "acquaintance" of Mr Gustavso, with the pair exchanging more than 10,000 messages with each other over a four-year period.
At a hearing last year, the court heard how the group was linked to a subculture where men become "nullos", short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.
The judge described the process as "little short of human butchery" as they were carried out by people with no medical qualifications, who Mr Gustavso had recruited.
St Mary the Virgin church in Eastbourne, East Sussex where Baulcomb practiced
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Sentencing him, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the case fell into the most serious category given the nature of the procedure, the planning involved, and the fact that it had been filmed.
He said: “There are some aspects of the offending here that might suggest it is in the highest category. With any extreme body modification feature there has to be some planning. In my judgment this is a category A case.
“The procedure and resulting injury is something that is serious. It is an aggravating feature that the procedure was filmed, bearing in mind the obvious sexual nature of this offence.
The judge said Baulcomb had no previous convictions, but told him: “When interviewed you sought to distance yourself from what was done and downplay the significance of your offending. You sought to minimise the potential for harm of what you were doing."