FOR three decades, a bizarre offender has racked up dozens of court appearances and several spells in prison over a strange fetish that drives him to touch young men's muscles.

Across the north west, Akinwale Arobieke has become a modern-day bogeyman and an internet sensation, but now a court order that curtailed his activities has been lifted.

The 55-year-old, from Merseyside, served three years in prison for 15 harassment offences following a 2003 court case in which many of the victims were young sportsmen.

The unusual court order banned him from touching people’s muscles, asking them to do squats and setting foot in certain areas.

In August 2013, he was found not guilty of flouting the court order after being accused of feeling the muscles of a 16-year-old boy, from Tonge Moor in Bolton, and getting him to perform squats. 

He had challenged the civil preventative order numerous times over the past decade before it was overturned by a judge at Manchester Crown Court.

Arobieke - who stands at 6ft 5in and is believed to weigh to 22 stone - has repeatedly taken issue with the nickname ‘Purple Aki’, insisting it is a racial slur.

A BBC Three spokesman added: "What's his story? Why has he been feared for nearly 30 years?

"Is he, in some senses, a victim himself?

"Local lad, Benjamin Zand, goes in search of the truth behind one of the UK's strangest stories."
Documentary The Man Who Squeezes Muscles is available to watch on BBC Three now. 

Click here to watch it.