Former footballer Joey Barton has avoided jail after sending six grossly offensive social media posts.
In November, the ex-Premier League player, 43, was convicted of six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Barton had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with six posts he made on X (formerly Twitter) about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
Following a televised FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton in January 2024, Barton likened Ward and Aluko in a post on X to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.
He went on to superimpose the faces of the two women onto a photograph of the serial murderers.
Barton had also tweeted that Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category” as she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears”.
Jurors found him not guilty on the Stalin/Pol Pot comparison, and also the commentary analogy with the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.
He was also convicted of a post in relation to Aluko in which he wrote: “Only there to tick boxes. DEI is a load of s***. Affirmative action. All off the back of the BLM/George Floyd nonsense”.
In a statement after Barton’s conviction, Aluko said: “Social media is a cesspit where too many people feel they can say things to others they wouldn’t dream of saying in real life under the guise of freedom of speech.
“This is a reminder that actions online do not come without consequences.
“The messages directed at me, Lucy Ward and Jeremy Vine by Joey Barton were deeply distressing and had a real damaging impact on my life and career. I am glad that justice has been served.”
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.”
He was convicted over the Epstein post and a tweet in which he said: “Oh @the JeremyVine Did you Rolf-aroo and Schofield go out on a tandem bike ride? You big bike nonce ya”.
Barton was also found guilty of other tweets in relation to 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 cleared of guilt over three remaining tweets referring to Vine. At Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Barton was handed a sentence of six months in custody, suspended for 18 months.
Sentencing, the honorary recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, told Barton: “Robust debate, satire, mockery and even crude language may fall within permissible free speech. But when posts deliberately target individuals with vilifying comparisons to serial killers or false insinuations of paedophilia, designed to humiliate and distress, they forfeit their protection.
“As the jury concluded, your offences exemplify behaviour that is beyond this limit – amounting to a sustained campaign of online abuse that was not mere commentary but targeted, extreme and deliberately harmful.”
The judge also spoke about the impact of Barton’s words on his victims as he sentenced the one-time England international.
He said: “Ms Aluko, an England international capped 104 times, an experienced broadcaster, and a senior football executive, describes your posts as misogynistic and racist abuse that unleashed a torrent of hatred towards her.
“She experienced fear, disgust, and profound distress, cancelling engagements, hiring security, and fearing for her family’s safety, with lasting harm to her professional confidence. She is clear that your attacks were at least partly racially motivated, targeting her as a Black woman and inviting others to echo that hostility.
“Ms Ward, a pioneer in women’s football with more than 25 years’ experience as a player, mentor and commentator, describes acute humiliation, emotional harm, and professional undermining. Your dismissal of her expertise as ‘tokenistic’ and your comparison of her to Rose West caused psychological injury, loss of work and a heightened sense of vulnerability for her and her family.
“She questions why her gender should be used to diminish her achievements and highlights the wider harm that such conduct inflicts on women working in sport.
“Mr Vine's statement details the terror of being falsely labelled a paedophile to millions, fearing for his and his family's safety, and enduring reputational harm from your sustained insinuations.
“He recounts months of disturbed sleep, an inability to enjoy his work or social interactions, and a pervasive fear that your statements had contaminated his reputation among people he had not yet met, forcing him into the humiliating position of feeling he needed to ‘correct’ what others might now believe about him. The psychological toll was accompanied by a significant financial one: the huge cost of pursuing civil proceedings simply to stop these defamatory allegations.”
Simon Csoka KC, defending, said a pre-sentence report had detailed how Barton had shown a “substantial amount of insight into his behaviour and a substantial amount of contrition”.
“The defendant now understands how powerful and damaging words are,” he said.
“He fully understands the restraining orders are there for a good reason. He also understands that they will serve as a constant reminder to him of going too far on social media.”
Character references were provided to the court for the father of four by his wife, mother, grandmother and sister, which “paint a very different picture of Mr Barton”, said his barrister.
Judge Menary noted that Barton had told the author of the pre-sentence report he had taken steps to “moderate” his online behaviour.
He told the defendant: “In light of the steps you have taken, I am persuaded that there is some prospect of rehabilitation, that an immediate custodial sentence is not required to protect either the public or the victims, and that a suspended sentence order may itself operate as a deterrent against any future offending.”
Barton must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and pay prosecution costs of £23,419. Two-year restraining orders were issued against each of his victims, which includes publishing any reference to them on any social media platform or broadcast medium.
Barton, from Huyton, Merseyside, played for several clubs, including Manchester City, Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers, across his career. He was also capped once by England.
He went on to manage Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers after retiring from playing. He is now a podcaster with 2.7 million followers on X.
