A HEARTBROKEN mum was left in tears after a £250 tribute tattoo of her late grandma ended up looking more like Rod Stewart.
Sarah Jackson wanted a permanent reminder of mother figure Thelma Jackson so she booked to have a giant portrait of her inked on her upper arm at Creative Tattoo Warrington.
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When the 38-year-old was shown a photo of the "awful" tribute she burst into tears, and she's since been too embarrassed to wear vest tops that would reveal it.
An image Sarah posted to Facebook last Wednesday shows the original picture of smiling Thelma, which was used on her funeral cards and taken on Sarah's wedding day.
Next to it is the 22cm-long and 13cm-wide tattoo with Thelma's grey hair shaded black and with glasses that she claims “look like goggles” that stand out from the "manly" nose and chin.
Users were quick to mock the botched tat Sarah saved for six months to afford as “absolutely awful” and “looking like Rod Stewart”.
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The single mum-of-three claims he admitted his work was “really bad” and he “could have done things differently” once they'd met to agree a £550 refund and compensation package.
Sarah, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "When people were saying it looks like a man I just sat there crying my eyes out. I saw people say it looks like Rod Stewart.
"I was looking forward to having that permanent reminder of her, it's the way I express myself.
"I'm heartbroken all over again. It's a photo that means a lot to me and it was on her funeral card.
"Her lips, her chin, her eyes, they all look wrong. She's not even got an eye on the left-hand side and she had white hair not black hair.
"When I first saw it my arm was swollen and it's in a difficult position to see, so it didn't look so bad at first. I thought the darkness would go down a lot too.
'EMBARRASSED'
"When you're looking down at it, it looks completely different. I only realised about five weeks afterwards how bad it was.
"When I showed it to a friend she said her tattoo artist said he'd never seen anything so shocking in his life. That's when I realised and that's when it made me cry.
"I put the Facebook post on because I wanted other people's opinions, but I wish I hadn't really because it just hurt.
"I've been embarrassed to wear sleeveless tops and at work the bottom of my tattoo sticks out. I've tried to ignore it more than anything and put it out of my mind.
"I'm not an artist, but I like to draw and when I lost my nan I drew a picture that looked more like her than that tattoo does.
"Even my little boy asked if it was his grandad. I'm upset that I've been left with this horrible portrait on my arm.
"I asked my friend's tattoo artist and asked if there's any way we can fix it, and he said 'no way. You can't fix that'.
"When I went in there I apologised in case I cried because of how much it means to me, but I didn't even cry at that point. I think that's a bad reaction to have, I must have known.
"It's ironic because my grandma hated tattoos, so she definitely wouldn't have liked this one. She'd have gone mad."
Tattoo-loving Sarah wanted the portrait inked by her regular tattooist but he was on a break from the profession when she booked it.
A family recommendation and impressive Facebook photos made her choose Creative Tattoo Warrington where she paid a £160 deposit and £90 on the appointment date.
She says the design looked “great” so wasn't worried when she left the tattoo parlour, but five weeks later a friend's tattooist said they'd “never seen anything so shocking in their life”.
Distraught Sarah has been told she could need around five £70 laser treatments to remove the tattoo, the first of which she had last week, and even then she could still be “scarred for life”.
Thelma, who Sarah describes as more of a mum to her than a nan, died at age 86 in November 2019 of heart failure as a result of complications with a hernia.
The part-time housekeeper planned to make the tribute part of a full sleeve but she'll now need a specific tattoo to cover the huge portrait.
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She also says she declined his initial offer of half her money back, so they settled on a full refund and £300 to cover some laser removal treatment.
Creative Tattoo Warrington has been contacted for comment.
