My Tattoo Story

My unique tattoo story is set in Hong Kong's St. John's Cathedral.

In the 1980s, the vicar, whose name I've forgotten, preached in Hong Kong. During that time, he counselled Stanley Prison inmates.  He admitted he didn't have much luck with prisoners, but he did connect with a murderer serving life.

Unique tattoo ideas are hard to find. After 10 years, he returned to rural England. He later decided to visit Hong Kong. He decided to return to Stanley Prison to check on the prisoner he'd reached. When he arrived, he was surprised to learn that the prisoner had been released for good behaviour, which is rare in Hong Kong. Nobody knew where he was.

One prisoner did. They said he had a Tsim Sha Tsui tattoo parlour (Kowloon). He didn't know where, but he knew the street. Our vicar set out and found his former friend, now a free man and delighted to see him.

So happy, the ex-con wanted to give the vicar a gift. Inked him up. English country vicars don't usually have tattoos, so I'm sure our hero had to think about this. He decided he couldn't refuse a gift of love. The two men considered what kind of tattoo to get.

They decided on a design that linked the cross of Jesus with two smaller crosses on either side (symbolising the robbers crucified with him), forming the impression of prison bars. Underneath was "John 8:32" in Chinese. This Bible passage says:

"Truth will free you."

Epic.