STRANGE FEELINGS
Bodybuilder takes on BBC
British police are investigating an allegation against the BBC of incitement to racial hatred, after a bodybuilder with a muscle fixation complained that a documentary about his life was racist.
The BBC3 film The Man Who Squeezes Muscles: Searching for Purple Aki presented itself as an investigation into how Akinwale Arobieke, 55, has been portrayed as a bogeyman terrifying northwest England.
An article on the BBC website that appears alongside the film states: ‘‘The nickname itself was racially charged – the suggestion being he was ‘so black he’s purple’.’’
Arobieke complained to Merseyside police that the documentary was racist and demonised him.
Arobieke, a 1.95-metre bodybuilder, has a series of convictions relating to the harassment of young men.
He is known for approaching younger men and striking up conversations about weight training, before touching and measuring their muscles, then inviting them to squat his body weight.
In 1986, Arobieke was convicted of manslaughter after a 16-year-old, Gary Kelly, was electrocuted at New Brighton railway station in the Wirral, allegedly while running away from him. But there was no evidence that he had threatened or touched Kelly.
The conviction was later overturned, and Arobieke was awarded an estimated £35,000 in compensation due to alleged racial overtones in the prosecution case.
The BBC3 film, available online and first broadcast in September, starts: ‘‘Purple Aki, a name that’s whispered in the parks and playgrounds of Merseyside . . . a threat made to kids . . . watch out, or Purple Aki will get you.’’
In the film, Arobieke is referred as as a ‘‘big black’’ man three times, and it is said that ‘‘everyone has seen him or been chased by him’’ and ‘‘everyone thinks
I’m going to conduct myself properly . . . I’m not going to run around touching everybody’s muscles, because there’s no need for that. Akinwale Arobieke, representing himself in court
they have spotted him and felt a shiver’’.
One alleged victim says: ‘‘He is just purple and huge.’’
A spokesperson for Merseyside police said: ‘‘Officers from the Liverpool Sigma team are investigating an allegation of a race hate crime. This follows the release of a BBC3 documentary. Specialist detectives are working alongside partners in the Crown Prosecution Service, and at this time the investigation is ongoing.’’
Arobieke told The Guardian that the film was racist and failed to point out that he had never been convicted of a sexual offence, and that he was compensated after his conviction for manslaughter was overturned.
In 2001, Arobieke was cleared of 50 charges of indecent assault and harassment against 14 teenage boys between 1995 and 2000. But he was later sentenced to 30 months in jail for making threats to kill.
He was imprisoned for a further six years in 2003, following his guilty pleas to 15 charges of harassment and one count of witness harassment.
After he was released in 2006, Merseyside police successfully applied to Liverpool magistrates court for a sexual offences prevention order against Arobieke, banning him 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.
But in May the order was overturned after Arobieke, representing himself at Manchester crown court, argued that it was draconian and that his behaviour was neither criminal nor sexual.
Judge Richard Mansell QC said the restrictions the order placed on Arobieke’s ‘‘freedoms’’ could no longer be justified. Lifting the order would allow him to pursue his interest in an ‘‘appropriate venue’’, the judge said, such as a gym or a bodybuilding event.
‘‘The ban on touching muscles is just not on,’’ the judge said. ‘‘I’m not into bodybuilding myself, but I’d have thought men who have muscles in their arms the diameter of my leg are the sort of men who will admire each other’s bodies.’’
Arobieke vowed to reinvent himself, telling the judge: ‘‘From today, I’m going to conduct myself properly . . . I’m not going to run around touching everybody’s muscles, because there’s no need for that.’’
Arobieke told The Guardian that he had asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to review his conviction for threats to kill. The commission confirmed that it had received an application from Arobieke.
The BBC has been approached for comment.