Ex-vicar jailed for doing surgery with scissors

A former vicar has been jailed after admitting causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) by carrying out an extreme body modification with scissors.

Geoffrey Baulcomb, from East Sussex, performed a surgical procedure on a man on 4 January in 2020, which was recorded in a nine-second video.

The 79-year-old previously admitted to distributing an indecent photo of a child in 2020, three counts of making indecent images of children on or before 2022 and three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Baulcomb has been jailed for three years.

The Old Bailey heard how Baulcomb tried to dispose of his phone in a toilet during a police search of his Eastbourne home, but failed to destroy the device and police were able to download incriminating material.

Officers also seized surgical tools, medical supplies, drugs and a Burdizzo clamp during the raid.

The court heard how Baulcomb had been in touch with Norwegian Marius Gustaffson, who styled himself as the “Eunuch Maker”, exchanging thousands of messages with him between 2015 and 2022.

Gustaffson is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for running a website hosting extreme pornography.

Prosecutors said some of the images found on the former vicar’s phone originated from this site.

Baulcomb retired from the Church of England in 2003 but received permission to officiate in the dioceses of Chichester and St Edmundsbury & Ipswich.

During his retirement, he ministered at St Mary the Virgin in Eastbourne until he was barred in 2022.

Speaking in court, Matthew Gowen said Baulcomb had been a respected figure in the community and church.

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.

“When interviewed, you sought to distance yourself from what was done and downplay the significance of your offending,” he said.

Baulcomb listened impassively as he was sentenced to two and a half years for GBH and a further six months for possession of child pornography.