Meet the Melbourne gangster who covered every inch of his body in tattoos, including his eyeballs

It would be easy to argue that we are now getting to a time where it is weirder to not have any tattoos than it is to have them. It seems like everyone has some form of ink on their body and the taboo around tattoos is finally declining. However, while plenty of us have a piece of body art, some people still take it to the extreme. John Kenney, 60, has covered every single inch of his body (including his eyeballs) in tattoos to serve as a reminder of the tumultuous life of crime that he has led. The former gangster, from Melbourne, Australia, says that his life of deviance began with him emptying milk bottles on doorsteps to get recycling money. According to Kenney, by the age of 12, he was tempted by "every drug except that thing they use now, the ice," before turning to robbery and becoming a pimp. "Yes, you could call me a gangster, I ran drugs, imported them, sold them... they couldn't control me." Kenney began sleeping rough between committing crimes and he says that it was this life of crime and homelessness that made him such an angry young man. The former-gangster says that he was just nine-years-old when he was first locked up, although he cannot remember the reason why. "I didn't have a very good family life, there was no love there, just hidings from both [parents] and even my brothers because they wanted my girlfriend," he said. "I got raped when I first got inside [correctional centre], sometimes they (would) bring in the older guys to play basketball with the younger kids, some turned out to be child molesters." In the 1970's John landed himself a part-time job however he was struggling with serious drug addiction. Such was the severity of his addiction, he hacked off his own finger with a meat cleaver in order to claim compensation money, which he would spend on narcotics. Unhappy with the direction his life was moving in, Kenney tried to kill himself on several occasions. One attempt involved the 60-year-old drinking half a bottle of Valium while downing a bottle of whiskey at the same time. "That day I was gone, I started seeing spiders coming out of my arms and legs, every time I have tried to die I came back," he said. The fascination with tattoos began when he was 18, but he would also suffer from Hepatitis C as a result of using a dirty needle. "I have them on every part of my body, my psychologist thinks it is self-loathing but I just love it, have them up my nose, my tongue, eyeballs, maybe I've gone a bit too far, it is starting to look like I am inflicting pain on purpose," he said. "I regret half of my life, from the day I was born until I straightened myself ... I think about the victims I left behind I feel sorry for, especially the house break-ins." "It was just us alcoholics, we kept together in Fitzroy, I had a bottle put through my head because I was hanging around the back of houses." However, times have changed and John now has a permanent home and speaks to students regarding the dangers of drug abuse. He says that he thinks that his life is one big paradox. "I have trouble making friends or keeping friends, but I've made friends and got an identity now that I tattooed my face, everyone is curious," he added. "I eat just once a week, I don't feel hungry but I have given up drinking and smoking, I have no emotions at all, haven't got the right tools for life." Despite his life of crime, it's hard to not feel some sort of sympathy for John, who seems like a bit of a sad man. It certainly seems like the tattoos have served as some sort of escape for the 60-year-old who no doubt is the talk of the school when he comes to visit.