Joey Barton is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court and is facing several charges over his social media activity after jurors were told he had “crossed the line”.
Joey Barton appears in court on 12 charges of sending grossly offensive communications
Joey Barton’s social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV critics Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward “crossed the line between free speech and a crime”, a jury was told.
The 43-year-old former Manchester City player is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court on 12 charges of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety. The accusations followed several posts made by Burton (who denies the charges) on Twitter (now known as X) in January and March last year.
Opening the prosecution on Monday, Peter Wright KC told jurors that Mr Barton had a “significant number of X-fans, in excess of two million” and that his comments on social media “could be characterized as scathing, vitriolic, controversial and outspoken”.
“Some people may find it humorous. Everyone has the right to express their opinions on all of them.
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“In a democratic and free society, they have the right to express opinions that are offensive, shocking or even personally disrespectful if they consider them to apply contrary to modern standards of an open, fair, multiracial, equal and diverse society.
“What someone has no right to do is apply that standard to electronically post communications that go beyond what is acceptable in society. We allege that defendant Mr. Burton crossed the line between free speech and a crime on 12 occasions.”
“On 12 occasions between early January and mid-March last year, he targeted three people in various positions in the public eye and took fairly deliberate action to subject them to large volumes of grossly offensive electronic communications through postings with the aim of causing distress and anxiety to the recipients and those to whom he was communicating their content and nature.”
Mr Barton denies the charges against him.
The former midfielder played for Manchester City, Newcastle, QPR, Marseille, Burnley and Rangers during his playing days. He won one cap for England and after retiring he turned to management, managing Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers.
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