The bodybuilder has died aged 64Ben Haslam and James Holt Senior Live and Breaking News Reporter
15:37, 27 Aug 2025Updated 16:04, 27 Aug 2025
Akinwale Arobieke
Bodybuilder Akinwale Arobieke has died aged 64.
Mr Arobieke, who was a well-known figure across Merseyside, was found dead at his home on Devonshire Road in Toxteth in what are believed to be non-suspicious circumstances, police have said.
Merseyside Police said officers were called at around 8.30pm on August 26 to reports of a man in his 60s who was found unresponsive at the address near to Princes Park.
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He was pronounced dead at the scene. His death is not believed to be suspicious and the coroner for Liverpool and Wirral confirmed it had received a file from Merseyside Police, the ECHO reports.
A Merseyside Police spokesperson 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.”
Arobieke, who was commonly known as Purple Aki, was originally from Crumpsall in north Manchester. The bodybuilder known for his criminal convictions for harassment and was convicted for touching the muscles of young men.
In the north west in the ’90s teenagers shared stories of a man who had ask to feel their muscles. In 2003, Mr Arobieke was jailed for six years after being convicted of harassing 15 men.
He was branded a ‘modern-day bogeyman’, but claimed in an interview that he was the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ by police after he made official complaints against certain officers.
Three years later, while he was still behind bars, a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was made which banned him touching men’s muscles, going to gyms and from asking strangers to perform squats for him from 2006.
Akinwale Arobieke
In 2015 he was found to have touched a young man’s muscles while travelling on a train from Manchester to North Wales. He was convicted of breaking a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which had banned him from touching, feeling or measuring people’s muscles.
The following year he had the 10-year ban on touching men’s biceps lifted after appealing against it and representing himself in court.
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Three complaints against GMP officers was upheld after he accused police of a witch hunt.
In 2022, he was handed a substantial pay-out from police after he sued the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police for malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office. He claimed two GMP police officers carried out a campaign against him to get him into trouble.
Mr Arobieke successfully defended himself at the trial of harassment in 2013. He instructed the Liverpool firm, James Murray solicitors, to assist him with pursuing GMP for compensation for misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution.
He received the pay-out just weeks before the trial was due to take place at Manchester County Court. In his civil claim against GMP, Mr Arobieke alleged that from 2012 he was targeted by two particular officers, who were not publicly named.