PURPLE AKI was an urban legend in northwest England for his odd compulsion to touch muscular young men.
But who was Purple Aki – who has been found dead at the age of 64 – and did he go to prison?
RexAkinwale Arobieke was accused of harassment after asking to touch rugby players’ muscles[/caption]
Who was Purple Aki?
Throughout the 1980s Akinwale Arobieke, who became known by the nickname Purple Aki, approached young rugby players and asked permission to touch their muscles.
He also tried to get them to pose for him and offered exercise advice.
In the north west of England in the 1990s Purple Aki became an urban legend, with teenagers sharing stories of a man who had ask to feel their muscles.
Aki was often seen travelling between northern train stations with his signature plastic bag, becoming the butt of a joke across Liverpool, Manchester and North Wales.
Aki would occasionally resurface in local newspapers after various encounters with the law.
He was banned from touching, feeling and measuring muscles, and also from asking strangers to perform squats for him from 2006.
Aki was prevented from waiting near schools and gyms and was banned from entering Warrington, Widnes and St Helens, all of which have a strong rugby heritage.
Did Purple Aki go to prison?
In 1986, 16-year-old Gary Kelly noticed that he was being followed by a muscular, six-foot-five man, who was said to have waited outside his school and asked if he could touch his muscles.
On June 15 the same year, Gary and his friends were at New Brighton’s outdoor swimming pool when Aki was spotted following the teenager again.
Gary reportedly ran to New Brighton train station and tried hiding in a stationary train before he jumped to the railway tracks as Aki watched from the platform.
It’s not clear exactly what happened, but Gary touched the third rail and was electrocuted by a whopping 750 volts.
Despite efforts to revive him, Gary was pronounced dead and Akinwale was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and indecent assault and harassment of 14 different boys.
The judge decided that Aki’s presence on the platform caused Kelly’s death and he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
In 1988 Aki appealed against his conviction, arguing that standing on the platform does not constitute a criminal offence, with judges agreeing that the evidence didn’t prove Aki had physically threatened Kelly.
The convictions were overturned, Aki was freed, and he went on to claim that the prosecution’s case was racially charged.
He was awarded £35,000 in compensation.
However, it was clear that Aki’s obsession was beyond control and after being released in 2003, Aki was arrested for 15 charges of harassment and witness intimidation and sentenced to six years in prison.
Less than seven months after the touching ban, Aki commented on a man’s biceps, touching them without permission, and was arrested for the breach of his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). He was jailed for 15 months.
In 2010, Aki was arrested and sentenced to two and a half years for touching a 16-year-old boy’s muscles, as the judge referred to him as a “sexual predator”, yet Aki maintained that he had been set up.
Aki was arrested again in 2015, charged with harassing a young man on a train from Manchester.
Whilst Aki was found guilty of the breach, he maintained that he had again been falsely accused as a result of his reputation, as more reports began to pour in.
The SHPO was finally lifted in April 2016 when psychologists determined that Aki’s obsession with touching muscles was not sexually motivated.
When did Purple Aki die?
Purple Aki, was found dead at his flat on Devonshire Road in Toxteth, Merseyside.
Officers discovered his body at around 8.30pm on Tuesday, August 26, after reports of an unresponsive man, but Merseyside Police have that they do not think his death is suspicious.
A spokesperson for the force said: “We can confirm that emergency services were in the Toxteth area following a non-suspicious death last night, Tuesday 26 August.
“At around 8.30pm, officers were made aware of a man in his 60s being found unresponsive at an address in Devonshire Road, Princes Park. He was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene.
“The man’s death is not suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”
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