Purple Aki loses muscle touching ban

A "bogeyman" figure known as Purple Aki has lost an appeal banning him from squeezing muscles after a judge said he was "out of control". Akinwale Arobieke, 46, had challenged a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo) that stopped him from pressing flesh and asking men and boys to squat. The odd obsession with muscle development landed him with a six-year jail spell in 2003 when he admitted 15 counts of harassment and a charge of witness intimidation. In jail complaints against the 6ft 5in asthma sufferer continued to rack up from inmates claiming he touched them and asked to measure biceps with a shoelace. On Friday, Judge William George insisted the Sopo, made by magistrates last year, was valid. Referring to an episode in which Arobieke touched a stranger's arm in Preston last year after the Sopo was made, the judge said:... [read full story]