The woman who has endured 416 hours of pain covering her body in tattoos... that she'll never see because she's BLIND

Fran Atkinson has spent last three years having colourful ‘body suit’ inked

But because of an eye condition she has no idea what her artwork looks like

She says her husband and tattoo artist have told her how it looks



An ink-addicted woman has spent 416 hours covering her entire body in tattoos, despite the fact she will never see them because she is blind.



Fran Atkinson has spent the last three years having a colourful ‘body suit’ inked on to her with no idea what it looks like.



But the mother-of-one, from Rhyl, says her husband, Ron, and tattoo artist Grez Bowman have acted as her eyes, describing details of the intricate artwork from her neck down to her ankles.

Fran Atkinson from Rhyl has endured 416 hours of pain over the last three years for a colourful body suit that she will never see, because she is blind

The mother-of-one says her husband, Ron, and tattoo artist Grez Bowman have acted as her eyes, describing details of the intricate artwork from her neck down to her ankles

Now she thinks she could be the most inked woman in Wales, and is hoping to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records with the help of Mr Bowman, who runs North Wales Ink in Prestatyn High Street.

The 52-year-old suffers with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment and can lead to blindness.

She began losing her sight when she was a teenager and has now been left with just three to five per cent vision, but said she’s always had a passion for body art.

' I got my first tattoo of a flying Pegasus around 25 years ago and it has progressed ever since then,” she said.

' Around three years ago, I just woke up one day and something clicked in my mind and I decided I wanted to have a full body suit done.

The 52-year-old from Rhyl suffers with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment and can lead to blindness

She began losing her sight when she was a teenager and has now been left with just three to five per cent vision, but said she’s always had a passion for body art



' I started coming to Grez for two-hour sittings per week but in the last year and a half it doubled to four hours.

' I told him I wanted an Egyptian theme on my back and gave him free rein to do whatever he wanted with the rest.

' Grez and Ron have been like my eyes describing to me what it looks like.'

Mr Bowman said Mrs Atkinson’s body suit is the largest piece of work he’s ever done.

' Because Fran’s been coming in so often, we’ve become good friends and she’s trusted me enough to use my artistic licence,' he said.

'I’ve been working in small sections of her body for such a long period of time, it came as quite a shock to see the piece in full. I’m really pleased with the end result.'

The tattoo has cost thousands of pounds and Ms Atkinson said the most painful parts were having her kneecaps, underarms and ankles done and said apart from some finishing touches, she won’t be going under the tattoo gun again.

Her heavily tattooed husband said: 'Fran is an exhibitionist - she loves giving people the shock factor.