According to a rough sleeper, originally from Poland, he was paid €100 to get a stag's name tattooed on his forehead.
A group of British tourists on a stag party in Benidorm, Spain, have sunk to an all-time low by paying a homeless man to have the name of the groom tattooed on his forehead, a local business leader has said.
Karen Maling Cowles, the president of the Benidorm British Business Association, said the stag group gave Tomek, 34, a Polish native, €100 (£89) to have ‘Jamie Blake, North Shields, NE28’ tattooed on his head, The Guardian reported.
Tomek said that he agreed and went through with the inking, however, the tattoo was not completed because he was in too much pain to carry on.
Benidorm residents strongly condemned the men on the stag after the tattoo parlour shared a photo on Facebook of Tomek getting the tattoo. The photograph has since been deleted or removed.
Maling Cowles tracked Tomek down after seeing the picture. After meeting him, she told the media: ‘I was shocked to actually see it staring out at you. On a human level, that’s disgusting; that could be my son.
‘The community is disgusted about it and many tourists too. It’s awful, taking a vulnerable person’s situation and thinking throwing a bit of money gives you a quick bit of fun.’
She said Tomek was jaundiced, suffered from severe shakes, and he told her he was an alcoholic. According to Maling Cowles, he had walked 2,700km to Benidorm after the relationship with his girlfriend collapsed, and had developed monumental back pain.
Tomek also said that after spending some of the money the British tourists had paid him, he was attacked and robbed of the remaining €17 on the beach.
‘Anybody comes to offer any homeless person €100, he takes it,” said Maling Cowles, whose husband is a tattoo artist. ‘That’s what happens to vulnerable people sadly.
‘He was embarrassed when I approached him because he was covered in sand because he’d been sleeping on the beach. I said, “I’m going to do something to try to help you” and he took my hand and kissed it and said, “You’re an angel”.’
Maling Cowles originally planned to raise enough money to get the tattoo removed, but after meeting Tomek she decided he needed more. ‘The removal of the tattoo is important because that shows that we do not accept that, but the rest of his life is very important,’ she said. ‘Getting to know him, his needs are great. I want to get him the help he needs.’
However, the groom with the same name as the tattoo has hit out at claims Tomek was paid to get the tattoo. Jamie Blake claims he woke up after a night out in Benidorm to discover pictures online of a man with ‘Jamie Blake, North Shields, N28’ inked on his face.
Blake claims he had nothing to do with the incident and was not on a stag do, Chronicle Live reported. He also says the man in the picture ‘isn't even homeless’.