LEOPARD MAN OF SKYE IS DEAD
Tattoo record holder lived in derelict bothy for 20 years
THE famous Leopard Man of Skye has died aged 80.
Ex-special forces soldier Tom Leppard spent £5500 on body art covering 99.9 per cent of his skin to make himself look like a big cat.
He moved to Skye in 1987 and lived like a hermit in a derelict bothy with no electricity for 20 years.
Tom, whose real surname was Woolridge, travelled by kayak to the mainland to collect his weekly pension.
He swapped his makeshift hut on the banks of Loch na Beiste for a house in 2008.
But Tom – who once held the title of the most tattooed man in the world – died at a nursing home in Inverness on Sunday.
During a 2001 interview with the Record, Tom revealed that he was happier living alone in Skye, away from the rat race.
He said: “I spent too long in the forces, 28 years. I couldn’t mix with ordinary people.
“I decided I wanted to be the biggest of something, the only one of something.
“It had to be a tattoo, one tattoo. This is one tattoo.”
To complete his leopard look, Tom had
a set of fangs custom-made by a dentist. Fifteen years ago, he was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the most tattooed man on Earth.
He was later named the most tattooed senior citizen.
Tom acknowledged that his body art did bring him notoriety.
He said: “I was warned when I did it that I’d be considered a non-person and I suppose that is true. But I knew as soon as the needle went in that it would have to be completed.
“People have been brainwashed into thinking a tattooed person is a criminal. My tattoos haven’t changed me but they’ve changed the views people have of me.”
London-born Tom chose Skye to get away from city life. He said: “I wanted a place to live where there were no people but I still had easy access to the shops and the rest of the country.
“If I went back, little kids with nothing better to do would come and throw stones at my window and there would be interfering busybodies knocking at the door all the time.”