Purple Aki
Akinwale Arobieke, known locally as Purple Aki or Purps[citation needed], is a convicted criminal from the North West of England. He was widely believed to be an urban legend until his imprisonment in Liverpool in 2001. He was well known as a "bogeyman" in the area, with stories of his activity reaching as far as Wigan and Doncaster. Many stories talk of his sexual attacks, but he has never been found guilty of anything of a sexual nature.
In the late 80s, a young man was electrocuted at New Brighton Station whilst running away from Arobieke. Arobieke was convicted of his manslaughter. However, he won his appeal on the grounds that he had not acted unlawfully by 'standing on the platform and looking into trains'.[1]
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.[2]
Released in 2003, Arobieke resumed his activities and was quickly arrested and charged with fifteen counts of harassment. 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 lead 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 the charges. When sentencing Arobieke, Judge Slinger said: "You are a danger to young men and your behaviour is both strange and obsessive."[3]
He was released on license on 26 October 2006. Unusually, Merseyside police applied to Liverpool Magistrates' Court for a Sexual Offences Prevention Order against Arobieke, 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.[4]
On February 23, 2007 the ban from feeling people's muscles was overturned as "draconian". [5]
In May 2007, a group of third year Newcastle Students officially granted him Legendary Status
- ^ R v Arobieke [1988], CA
- ^ Liverpool Daily Post, 23rd November 2001.
- ^ St. Helens Today (2003-12-18). "Purple Aki jailed". Retrieved 2007-03-19.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ BBC News (2006-10-23). "Man banned from touching muscles". Retrieved 2007-03-19.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ BBC News (2007-02-23). "'Muscle touching' ban overturned". Retrieved 2007-02-23.
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