Ex footballer Joey Barton avoids jail over ‘grossly offensive’ social media posts
Joey Barton has been given a suspended jail term for "grossly offensive" social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko
Former footballer Joey Barton has been sentenced to six months in custody, suspended for 18 months, for sending six "grossly offensive" social media posts.
Listen to this article
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.
Read more: Law student locked up in Dubai prison for 25 years on cocaine charges to be freed
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.”
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.