A 15 year-old schoolboy has been prosecuted for illegally tattooing a teenage girl with a gun he bought over the internet.
The lad, who cannot be named, was arrested when police questioned the 16 year-old girl over another matter.
They asked her about the tattoo on her arm and she told them the boy had done it and he was arrested.
Under the law you must be at least 18 before you can give someone a tattoo.
He was charged with the obscure offence of Tattooing a Minor, contrary to sections 1 and 2 of the Tattooing of Minors Act 1969.
He admitted the offence when he appeared before Worthing Youth Court in Sussex who imposed a three-month referral order on him.
The court heard that the offence took place in Shoreham, West Sussex, where the boy lives.
The Crown Prosecution Service said: “A 16-year-old girl was tattooed with a tattoo gun that the defendant bought from the internet. It was a tattoo to the girl’s arm.
“The case was sentenced at the first hearing.”
The boy’s mother refused to discuss the case, saying any publicity might be seen as ‘a badge of honour’ by her son.
Trud, a tattooist at Blue Dragon in nearby Brighton, said: “You have to be 18 to tattoo someone otherwise it is an assault.
“If it is actual bodily harm on a minor you would on the same wing as people who touch children.
“Good tattooists take years to train. “You can’t just try out tattooing on your friends.
“Hygiene is so important and all our equipment is regulated and just because you can draw doesn’t mean you can tattoo.
“You would not a friend give you a filling or dental surgery so why let them tattoo you?”
