Former footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of six counts of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts aimed at broadcaster Jeremy Vine and television pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
Barton, 43, compared Aluko and Ward to the serial killer couple Fred and Rose West, and called Vine a “bike nonce” in posts sent between January and March 2024.
Jurors at Liverpool Crown Court accepted the prosecution’s argument that Barton, from Huyton in Merseyside, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime”.
But they cleared the ex-Manchester City and Newcastle player of six other counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
Judge Andrew Menary KC warned Barton about wearing a scarf printed with a British flag in the dock as a “stunt”, and told the former footballer’s legal team he would not be permitted to wear it when he is sentenced on 8 December.
Barton was reminded his bail conditions prohibit him from mentioning his three victims in any way before that hearing.
During his trial, Barton argued he was the victim of a “political prosecution” and that his comments aimed at football pundits Aluko and Ward were simply “dark and stupid humour”.
He said he had been “trying to make a serious point in a provocative way”.
Barton, who has 2.7 million followers on X, also claimed his posts about Vine were merely “crude banter” and that in using the phrase “bike nonce” he had never intended to imply the radio presenter was a paedophile.
Jurors cleared Barton on a charge relating to a post containing a mock apology to Aluko for comparing her to Rose West.
That post went on to say: “She’s clearly in the Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category.
“She’s murdered hundreds of thousands if not millions of football fan’s [sic] ears, in the last few years.”
‘A little bully’
However, the jury did convict Barton over a post in which he said ITV pundit Aluko was “only there to tick boxes”.
“All off the back of the [Black Lives Matter]/George Floyd nonsense,” he added.
Barton was cleared of writing that Ward and Aluko were the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary” after an FA Cup tie in January 2024 between Crystal Palace and Everton.
But the former Fleetwood and Bristol Rovers manager was convicted of a count relating to another post in which he superimposed their faces onto a photograph of the serial killers.
He was also convicted over posts suggesting Vine had visited “Epstein island” – a reference to the paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein – and one saying: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999.”
In his closing speech to the jury of seven men and five women, prosecutor Peter Wright KC said Barton had crossed the line “by some considerable margin” beyond what is tolerable in society.
He said Barton was not “the victim here” and called the footballer: “A little bully who takes pleasure sitting there with his phone in his hand and then posting these slurs.”
‘Grossly offensive’
Directing the jury, Judge Menary explained that the term “grossly offensive” in the charges required a “high bar” for conviction.
“The criminal law is not there to punish bad manners, sharp humour, or unpopular opinions,” he said.
“The law only intervenes when the content is of such an extreme, degrading or dehumanising character that society as a whole would say ‘that goes too far, that crosses the line of what we can tolerate’.”
Barton was released on bail and Judge Menary ordered a pre-sentence report be prepared.
The judge also warned him it would be “very foolish” to post anything on social media about the case before then.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Callum Bryce, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said Barton had “subjected three public figures to offences of malicious communications”.
“In his evidence before the court [Barton said] that in some of his messages he was trying to make a serious point in a provocative way and that in others he was simply joking,” he said.
“The finding of the jury confirmed that his conduct had gone beyond any joke and his messages were grossly offensive with the purpose of causing anxiety and distress to his victims.”
Source: BBC
