Football manager Joey Barton has been cleared of assaulting his wife after a judge ruled that he would not receive a fair trial after she refused to give evidence.
Barton, 40, is alleged to have gotten into a drunken argument with wife Georgia, 36, who said he broke her nose after a drinking session on June 2, 2021. The Bristol Rovers manager and former Rangers midfielder had fallen asleep while his wife spoke to officers outside their Richmond home, describing how she had been kicked and dragged to the floor.
She said Barton had become aggressive during an argument over family. Body-worn footage taken when police officers responded to a 999 call showed Mrs Barton explaining what had happened.
But she later refused to support the prosecution's case against her husband and refused to give a statement, saying she had been drinking all day and her account to officers that night might not have been accurate. She also sent a letter to the Crown Prosecution Service in which she gave a different account and reasserted her position against Barton's prosecution.
Because the prosecuting lawyers did not take a statement following this, and because they refused to call her as a witness, District Judge Andrew Sweet ruled that Barton would not receive a fair trial.
In showing Judge Sweet the basis of their case, prosecutor Daniel O'Donoghue said: "It is the prosecution's case that during a drunken argument this defendant assaulted his wife. At around 23:14 a 999 call was made by the defendant's wife.
"She was audibly upset and she was asked what is her emergency. She replied: 'My husband has just hit me in the house.'"
During the 999 call, played at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court, Mrs Barton said that Barton had broken her nose. Then, shown on body-worn footage, she told the responding officers: "I have had a disagreement with my husband. There was some pushing and shoving.
"I have been pushed down, kicked around, we were arguing about family. He was saying he was going to argue with my dad. He pushed me around and kicked me in the head."
She can also be seen telling another officer how the attack occurred while three of her children were in the house and a friend is seen preparing a tea towel filled with ice to press against her forehead. The court was also shown footage of Barton's arrest in which he is asleep and "very clearly intoxicated" according to Mr O'Donoghue.
He said that when officers went round to interview Mrs Barton, she was evasive when answering questions and refused to supply a formal statement. He added: "In her letter she said she does not support the prosecution and does not want to be called as a witness.
"The prosecution was entitled to conclude that she would have given an account to assist Mr Barton. It was clear from the beginning that she did not support the prosecution, that she did not want to press charges and when she was seen by the officer in the case the next day she did not want to provide a statement.
"The prosecution maintains she would not be a credible witness."
Simon Csoka KC, defending, said the prosecution had failed to disclose the letter to the defence and that it is unfair to rely on Mrs Barton's evidence in the body-worn footage and 999 call without calling her as a witness, because he cannot cross examine her.
He asked District Judge Andrew Sweet to throw out the case because of an abuse of process and said: "Back in November, the evidential position was that Mrs Barton, the following morning on the 3rd, declined to make a witness statement.
"She had been asked to do so by the officer in the case and as of November last year there was nothing to suggest the contrary. The proper course of action should have been that a statement was taken and once a statement was taken, that would be when the prosecution makes an informed decision as to whether she should be called as a witness.
"This is clearly a case where the court should exercise its discretion and exclude the evidence. We invite you to stay the proceedings or exclude the evidence."
Judge Sweet said: "Mrs Barton had written to the Crown that she did not support the prosecution and that Mr Barton did not assault her. She said she had been drinking from midday and she was not sure that what she said to the police was accurate.
"I asked if the Crown wanted to ask Mrs Barton for a statement but this was declined. The defence say the Crown's approach is an abuse of process.
"The general principle is that the Crown should call to court all witnesses it intends to rely upon. In November 2021 the letters written by Mrs Barton did not exist.
"By March 2022 they did and Mrs Barton gave a very different account of what happened. The prosecution chose not to take any statement from her.
"I am satisfied that Mr Barton will be unable to receive a fair trial and the case is stayed."
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