A British National Health Service (NHS) doctor who had his own legs amputated has been jailed for two years and eight months for insurance fraud and possessing extreme pornography.The BBC reports that vascular surgeon Neil Hopper, 49, once named the “bravest in Britain” after he had to amputate both of his own legs, has pleaded guilty to two fraud charges after he told insurers that his legs needed to be removed because of sepsis and not because of a self-inflicted injury.According to Truro Crown Court reports, Hopper, who performed hundreds of amputation operations himself, actually froze his own legs with ice and dry ice to ensure they would be chopped off because of an “obsession with removing parts of his own body and a sexual interest in doing so.”Judge James Adkin said in sentencing that he accepted that Hopper, who had no previous convictions, was remorseful about the whole situation.However, the "level of harm" in three videos of body mutilation Hopper was found in possession of — which were the subject of the pornography charges — was "exceptionally high," he said.Hopper had been treated by surgeons for suspected sepsis before he was told that he should have his legs amputated and was operated on. The court heard he did not tell the medics the real cause of his injuries..UK doctors told to stop prescribing blue inhalers: because, the environment .As for the fraudulent insurance claims, the court heard they now total more than £466,000.Hopper had been tempted by "greed," said prosecutor Nicholas Lee.Lee went on to tell the court that Hopper had "enjoyed" the interest from the media in his case.After the amputations, Hopper was back at work in just under six months with prosthetic legs. He was arrested in March 2023 and has been suspended from the medical register since Dec. 2023.Hopper did not regret the operations, but he "bitterly regrets" the "dishonesty" about their cause, he said.He stated that after the operations he had been "totally overwhelmed by support from friends and family, which made it even more difficult to tell them what had really happened."The Crown Prosecution Service said it would be making an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022 to recover the money that Hopper acquired through the fraud.
