A NOTORIOUS Liverpool criminal “infamous” for squeezing boys’ muscles and demanding they do squats has apologised to his victims.

Akinwale Arobieke told how he now realised touching young men’s bodies without their consent was wrong.

The 6ft 5in, 46-year-old, said courses he had done in prison and sessions with a psychiatrist had given him a “better understanding of the other person”.

But the 20-stone body-builder insisted he had never got any satisfaction from grabbing his victims’ muscles, but had allowed an exercise routine to “Get out of hand and become an obsession.”

He said his behaviour had been “odd and eccentric”, but he only wanted to find the world’s next best body-builder.

Arobieke was jailed for six years in 2003 for 15 counts of harassment and another charge of witness harassment.

While imprisoned, Merseyside Police were granted a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).

Since his release, Arobieke, formerly of Cavendish Gardens, Toxteth, has been jailed for a total of 21 months after breaching it.

But now he is appealing to get the restrictive order – which bans him going near gyms and schools without permission – overturned.

The case continues.