Akinwale Arobieke

Akinwale Oluwafolajimi Oluwatope Arobieke^[1] (born 15 July 1961),^[1][2][3] known locally in North West England as Purple Aki due to his very dark skin almost resembling the colour purple,^[1] is an English convicted criminal. Arobieke is a 6 ft 5 in-tall (196 cm) bodybuilder who weighs 22 stone (140 kg; 310 lb).^[4][5] His criminal activities are sexually motivated, a fact which was recognised in 2006 by Liverpool Magistrates' Court, when Merseyside Police successfully applied to them for a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.^[6] The Prevention Order was lifted in May 2016.^[7]

Arobieke has been described by one commentator as having been "failed by the justice and medical systems almost as much as his victims".^[8] In September 2016, BBC Three aired a documentary about Arobieke, The Man Who Squeezes Muscles: Searching for Purple Aki.^[9]

Early life

Arobieke was born at Crumpsall Hospital in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester.^[1] His mother was a secretarial student of Nigerian origin. His father's identity is unknown.^[1] He was placed in care at the age of six months and spent some time in a Barnardo's home in Llandudno. As an adult he worked in several jobs, including as a cleaner in the Mersey Tunnels and a messenger for Liverpool City Council.^[1]

Criminal history

On Sunday, 15 June 1986, a 16-year-old from Birkenhead named Gary Kelly^[10] was electrocuted at New Brighton railway station, allegedly whilst running away from Arobieke. Arobieke was convicted of manslaughter, but successfully appealed against the conviction^[11][12] on the grounds that he had not acted unlawfully by "standing on the platform and looking into trains".^[13] In addition, Arobieke was reportedly awarded £35,000 compensation due to alleged racial overtones in the prosecution case.^[1][14]

He appeared in court on 22 November 2001, pleading not guilty to fifty counts of indecent assault and harassment against fourteen teenage boys between February 1995 and September 2000. He was convicted of threatening behaviour and was jailed for thirty months.^[15]

Released in 2003, Arobieke resumed his activities and was quickly arrested and charged.^[1] During the course of the trial 123 people were interviewed by police, including one family who were forced into the Witness Protection Programme as a result of threats from Arobieke. This led to Arobieke being additionally charged with witness intimidation. On 15 December 2003 he was jailed for six years by Preston Crown Court, pleading guilty to fifteen counts of harassment and witness intimidation.^[1] A further 61 counts, mostly of indecent assault, were left on file.^[1] When sentencing Arobieke, Judge Slinger said: "You are a danger to young men and your behaviour is both strange and obsessive". After the case, Detective Superintendent Mike Dale commented as follows: "Over the years Akinwale Arobieke has been persistent in his pursuit and harassment of a number of young men, instilling fear into them. We are pleased with the sentencing. Most importantly it's to the credit of the witnesses, who despite their fears and apprehensions, have remained steadfast and determined to see justice done and this man prosecuted to stop him from making other people's lives a misery." ^[16]

Muscle touch ban

Arobieke was released on licence from prison on 26 October 2006. Unusually, Merseyside police applied to Liverpool Magistrates' Court for an interim Sexual Offences Prevention Order against him, although he was never convicted of a sex offence. Under the terms of the order, Arobieke was banned from touching, feeling, or measuring muscles; asking people to do squat exercises in public; entering the towns of St Helens, Warrington, or Widnes without police permission; and loitering near schools, gyms, or sports clubs.^[6] The ban was later overturned as "draconian" ^[17] but remained in force after a successful appeal by police.^[18]

On 25 May 2007 Arobieke approached a man in a shopping centre in Preston and commented upon the size of his biceps before "touching them without permission". He was arrested shortly afterwards, on suspicion of breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order, and later convicted.^[18][19] and jailed for a further 15 months,^[20] with the muscle touching ban being made permanent.^[20]

In July 2008 Arobieke was unsuccessful in trying to overturn the 'muscle touching ban', at one point 'behaving erratically' just before court.^[21] During the court case, details of Arobieke's "stalker’s manual" were disclosed; a book Arobieke had compiled that was "full of details about victims' body measurements, contact numbers and families." It was alleged that Arobieke would "do research into his victim, confronting them with such details as their father's car registration number or sibling's place of education."

During the court case, DC Andrew Rowlings claimed that "Arobieke became sexually aroused while forcing terrified young men to perform "inverted piggybacks" — ordering them to squat so he could lean over their backs with his face by their buttocks and his genitalia on their necks, while squeezing their quad muscles".^[4] During the court case Arobieke made an apology to his victims and admitted that he was "infamous, notorious, everything from a bogeyman to whatever."^[22]

Breaches of SOPO

In late 2008 Arobieke approached a 17-year-old in Birkenhead and asked to feel his biceps. By doing so he was in breach of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which specifically prohibited him from approaching young men and touching their muscles; he was arrested and convicted for this breach of the SOPO, receiving a sentence of 18 months.^[5]

In April 2010, Arobieke appeared in court at Mold, North Wales, charged with further offences.^[23] On 24 June 2010, after a jury found him guilty of touching the calf and quadriceps muscles of a 16-year-old boy in Llandudno, North Wales, the judge said that Arobieke was a "sexual predator" and jailed him for two and a half years. The offence was a breach of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order.^[24]

In June 2012, Merseyside Police issued a statement denying rumours that Arobieke had died, stating that he remained in prison.^[25] In June 2012, Arobieke was released from prison after serving his 2 ¹⁄₂-year-long sentence, which he received in June 2010.

In August 2013, he was put on trial at Manchester Crown Court, after being accused of targeting young men in St Peter's Square (Manchester), Trafford, and Bolton,^[26] and was found not guilty.^[27]

In February 2014, a Greater Manchester Police Professional Standards investigation found evidence to support police misconduct against Arobieke. This related to interactions with an off-duty police officer at body building events in the second half of 2012 (one of which led to arrest) and an October 2013 trial during which Arobieke was found not guilty of breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order. Arobieke claims to have spent almost two years in prison awaiting charges that were either dropped or from which he was acquitted.^[12]

On 1 October 2015 Arobieke was once again found guilty of breaching his SOPO, having asked to touch and measure the muscles of a student travelling on the Manchester Piccadilly to Colwyn Bay train on 11 October 2013. Arobieke, representing himself, denied the offence and claimed he was set up by the police because of his notoriety, but was convicted by a unanimous jury. He also complained about the use of the nickname, "Purple Aki", throughout prosecution papers, as he regards it as racist.^[2] Arobieke had previously complained on these grounds to the Press Complaints Commission about newspapers' use of the nickname.^[28]

In May 2016, the Manchester Crown Court lifted the Prevention Order. In rendering his decision, Judge Richard Mansell indicated that while breaching the order was a "serious matter", the order's restrictions could "no longer be justified."^[7][29]

References