A MANCHESTER tattooist who works in Colchester is inking people with the city's iconic bee to raise funds for the terror attack victims.

AK Alexander, based at Art & Soul Tattoo Studio in Crouch Street, has so far etched the Manchester worker bee on nine clients including herself.

Since the tragic events of May 22, it has become a symbol of solidarity.

Having joined the Manchester Tattoo Appeal, AK has raised £450 of her £1,000 target - and has just Saturday left for tattoos.

She said: "I was just about to go to bed when I saw the breaking news on my phone but they didn't know what it was.

"When the full news came out the next day, I just felt sick.

"I'm originally from Manchester which makes it all the more important to me.

"But on a human level we hear about these things all the time and I want to do something to help.

"Last week I did the tattoo on a lad from Manchester who was visiting relatives here and he took that back with him."

Gazette:

Ink - AK Alexander at work in Colchester

AK, 29, grew up in Sale, a town in the Trafford area of Manchester.

She left aged ten with her parents but still remembers the devastating June 1996 bombing carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

Hundreds of people were injured when the political group detonated a 1,500kg truck bomb in the city centre.

She said: "I heard the rumbling and felt the ground shake. It was terrifying.

"I was going to school football training on a Saturday morning.

"So to be anywhere near Manchester Arena when the explosion happened would have been horrific and I just need to do my bit."

AK Alexander will start working at 10am this Saturday.

To contact her for a booking, call 07850435502.