One Direction's Zayn Malik visits Weymouth to get inked with girlfriend Perrie Edwards

The tattooist drew a wolf and feathers design on the leg of the One Direction band member when he called in at Tattoo Magic in Weymouth with his girlfriend Perrie Edwards of Little Mix.

The ink design, stretching the length of Zayn’s lower left leg, took around two hours to complete.

Paul said: “I didn’t have a clue who Zayn and Perrie were at first.

“One of our customers recognised them.

“My wife put it on Facebook and within five minutes we had screaming schoolgirls outside on the pavement.

“They were both really good and signed a lot of autographs.”

Paul, who has been a tattoo artist for 30 years, said the couple were very polite.

He said: “They were very loved-up. Perrie loved the tattoo, she didn’t have one but said she’s thinking about getting one.”

He added: “It really was a shock to have them here, they found the shop through our website, phoned up and booked in.

“They came in with their minder, Perrie’s brother.”

Paul said the couple’s minder Fred Cornish also had a tattoo – a pair of Native American headdress feathers on his arm.

It is understood that the superstar couple were in Weymouth to celebrate the birthday of a family member of Perrie.

South Shields resident Perrie lived in Weymouth as a youngster and attended Radipole School.

Members of her family still live in the resort.

Boy band One Direction recently hit the headlines when they were forced to delete a social media request for fans to submit footage of their ‘real tattoos’ for a chance to appear in the group’s forthcoming film.

A spokesman said the tweet on Twitter was posted ‘in error’ and was removed because One Direction ‘do not want to encourage any of their fans to get 1D tattoos’. Many fans of the group are under 18.

Paul said he was surprised to hear of the criticism.

“It seems a bit silly, tattoos are the most popular they’ve ever been.

“The only thing I would say is make sure you go to a proper registered shop.”