Joey Barton has been charged with two counts of malicious communications against Jeremy Vine and former England footballer Lucy Ward.
The ex-Manchester City footballer, well known for his outspoken views on social media, has been summoned to appear in court following a police investigation.
Charges relate to reports of alleged online abuse of broadcaster Vine and commentator Ward between January 3 and March 20 this year.
The 41-year-old former manager, from Huyton, Merseyside, previously faced one count of the same offence in relation to posts directed towards football pundit and ex-England women’s international Eni Aluko on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
He is scheduled to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court next year in relation to this charge.
But when his case was listed before a judge on Tuesday morning the new offences were mentioned, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Responding to the news on X, Barton claimed the charges were “woke nonsense” and told his 2.8million followers: “Three charges for me for a some jokes on tweets.
“Malicious communications = telling the truth. See you in court.”
In a statement, Cheshire Police said: “A man from Widnes has been summoned to court to face charges of malicious communications.
“Following an investigation by Cheshire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised for Joseph Barton to be charged with two counts of malicious communications.
“The charges relate to reports of alleged malicious communications online between Wednesday January 3 and Wednesday March 20, involving two victims.
“The 41-year-old will appear at magistrates court at a later date.”
Barton has directed a series of social media posts towards female TV pundits working in men’s football.
He played 435 games during an acrimonious career for the likes of Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle and earned one England cap in 2007 – despite criticising some of his fellow players. .
The midfielder was also the manager of Bristol Rovers from February 2021 until his sacking in October last year, following a run of poor results. He had a stint at Fleetwood Town.
