Illegal tattooists escaping prosecution

Illegal tattoo parlours operating out of garden sheds and using dirty needles are routinely escaping prosecution, a Sunday Post probe can reveal.

Our investigation into dangerous back-street tattooists has discovered that while nearly 150 have been investigated by councils in northern England only a handful have been prosecuted.

Safety experts say illegal inkers known as “scratchers” have been tattooing kids, or tattooing customers “on the cheap” in dirty kitchens with pets walking around.

And they claim those investigated by councils over the past four years are just the “tip of the iceberg”. Julie Barratt, of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said: “This is a huge problem.

“We have found some which have been absolutely shocking in some really dreadful premises. We have seen a tattooist operating in a kitchen with two cats walking around and someone in a shed using just the light through the window to work by.”

Our investigation, using Freedom of Information laws, has revealed that 28 councils in the north of England investigated 146 allegations of illegal tattoo parlours in the past four years. Incredibly, there have been just eight successful prosecutions in the same period.

They have included back-street tattooist Tony Lee Newlands, 29, who was jailed for running an unregistered parlour in his Carlisle home. Newlands was sentenced to 120 days in jail in February after magistrates heard he had been inking customers in his kitchen.

One customer complained after becoming bed-ridden with pain from infection and scarred by the tattoo.

Paul Davison, of Public Health England, added: “As tempting as it might be to have it done cheaply, it’s simply not worth the risk.”