'He’s paid the price': Eni Aluko says Joey Barton will 'regret what he’s done' after avoiding jail for social media posts
Barton was given a suspended jail term for "grossly offensive" posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko
Eni Aluko says Joey Barton will ‘regret what he’s done’ and that the former footballer has not apologised to her as he was sentenced for ‘grossly offensive’ online posts.
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The former Premier League footballer who played for Manchester City and was once capped for England, was found guilty last month on six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
He was cleared of six other charges.
Last month a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Barton, 43, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with six posts on X, formerly Twitter.
Following a televised FA Cup tie in January 2024 between Crystal Palace and Everton he likened Ward and Aluko to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary” and went on to superimpose their faces on to a photograph of the serial murderers.
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In another post about Aluko, Barton said: “Only there to tick boxes. DEI is a load of shit. Affirmative action. All off the back of the BLM/George Floyd nonsense.”
Aluko told LBC's Tom Swarbrick: "I don't need his apology.
"I care more about the consequences that he has to suffer and I'm pretty confident that he will regret what he's done.
"He's going to have to pay. He's paid a lot of money already for what he's done.
"For years before these tweets, he was very nice to me about my career, very nice to me about my punditry.
"I think that he thought he would get away with it and he hasn't done."
The football pundit added that Barton's sentence is a "deterrent" and that people need to realise that they can be held accountable for their actions on social media.
She told Tom Swarbrick that Barton's social media posts had a "huge impact" on her.
"I didn't leave my house. I felt very debilitated and depressed which is not who I am," she said.
"It really, really impacted me as it did Jeremy and and Lucy as well.
"I think the impact on that level of somebody who has millions of followers means that all of those people feel emboldened to also say the same things."
Barton repeatedly referred to Vine as “bike nonce” and asked him: “Have you been on Epstein Island? Are you going to be on these flight logs? Might as well own up now because I’d phone the police if I saw you near a primary school on ya bike.”
The ex-Manchester City, Newcastle United and Marseille player – now a social commentator with 2.7 million followers on X – also tweeted: “Oh @the JeremyVine Did you Rolf-aroo and Schofield go out on a tandem bike ride? You big bike nonce ya.”
Barton was convicted over two further tweets about Vine in which he referred to him as “bike nonce” and said: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999,” and “Beware Man with Camera on his helmets cruising past primary schools. Call the Cops if spotted.”
He was found not guilty of six other allegations that he sent a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024.
Jurors cleared Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, over the commentary analogy with the Wests but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.
Giving evidence, Barton, who managed Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers, said he believed he was the victim of a “political prosecution” and denied his aim was “to get clicks and promote himself”.
At Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Judge Andrew Menary KC sentenced Barton to six months in custody, suspended for 18 months.