Eric Weyda has launched an appeal against his sacking by Cincinnati Police Department four months after getting the ill-advised tattoos, WLWT5 reports.

The former officer was reassigned to a less public role immediately after his superiors noticed the tattoos, which were deemed “injurious to the public trust”.

Mr Weyda told bosses that the tattoos were supposed to be read separately, and not as the questionable phrase “PURE EVIL”.

He said having “PURE” on one hand and “EVIL” on the other was supposed to represent the “struggle between good and evil”.