Bruce Lehrmann ‘victim survivor’ tattoo: Viral photo is confirmed as genuine and tattooed man is a former police officer

A Bruce Lehrmann supporter who sports an enormous tattoo of the rapist’s face on his shoulder has been identified as an ex-police officer from Western Australia.

On Monday, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann had raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House on March 23, 2019.

The damning finding marked the end of Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson – and also put an end to long-held questions about what happened that night.

He was branded a rapist by the civil court standard and was undoubtedly the biggest loser of the trial.

But following closely behind could be a man who made the life-long decision to get a portrait of Lehrmann inked on his upper arm.

The tattoo appears to be based on a photo taken of Lehrmann outside the ACT Supreme Court during his criminal trial in 2022, which was dropped due to juror misconduct.

Surrounding the portrait are the words ‘real victim’ and ‘survivor’.

Within about an hour of Justice Lee’s findings being handed down on Monday, Lehrmann’s former media advisor John Macgowan revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that the tattoo was in fact genuine. 

An image of the tattoo had previously gone viral on social media, but many were convinced it had to be fake.

‘This can’t be real, can it?’ one X user asked.

Mr Macgowan replied: ‘Not only is it real, I found the guy who got it and he’s a cop.’

Daily Mail Australia understands the owner of the tattoo is a former police officer from Western Australia.

Mr Macgowan himself was brought up in the trial earlier in April when it was revealed he’d brokered Lehrmann’s exclusive interview deal with Channel Seven’s Spotlight.

He tried to strike a deal for $200,000 while the jury in Lehrmann’s rape trial was still out in October 2022, but had wanted the money to go into a trust account so it wouldn’t look like Lehrmann was being paid.

Instead, the network agreed to pay Lehrmann’s rent for a year in exchange for two interviews, which was worth about $105,000.

Ms Higgins’ rape allegations were tried in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022, but the case fell over when a juror brought banned research material into the court.

The ACT’s top prosecutor then dropped the sexual assault charge against him two months later, citing concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Lehrmann launched defamation action over an episode of The Project that aired in February 2021, during which Ms Higgins first aired her rape allegations in an interview with Lisa Wilkinson.

He wasn’t named in that broadcast but claimed friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Ms Higgins’ rapist and launched defamation action in a bid to clear his name.

However, that plan backfired on Monday when Justice Lee found it was likely Lehrmann did rape Ms Higgins.

If he hadn’t launched the civil case, he would never have been branded a rapist in a court.

Do you know the owner of the tattoo? Email charlotte.karp@mailonline.com