Joey Barton was found guilty of sending grossly offensive social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court found six posts made by Barton, 43, on X (formerly Twitter) “crossed the line between freedom of speech and criminality”. He was acquitted of six other charges of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024. Peter Wright KC continued: “Everyone is entitled to express views that fall into all of these categories. What someone is not entitled to do is apply that standard to electronically post communications that go beyond what is acceptable in society.” Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, had previously denied 12 charges of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024. He was acquitted of six other charges related to other posts by X from the same period.
After the FA Cup televised FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Everton in January 2024, he compared Ward and Aluko to “football commentators Fred and Rose West” in an X post.
He superimposed the faces of two women on a photograph of a serial killer.
The court also heard that Barton had tweeted that Aluko fell into the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category” because he had “murdered the ears of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans”.
The jury acquitted him of the comparisons between Stalin and Pol Pot, and of the analogy with Western commentary, but ruled that the superimposed images were deeply offensive.
He was also found guilty for a post he wrote in reference to Arco that read, “Just check the box. DEI is a bunch of shit. Affirmative action. It’s all behind the BLM/George Floyd nonsense.”
The court heard that in another post on X, Burton asked Ms Vine: “Have you been to Epstein’s Island? Are you going to be on your flight log? If I see you riding your bike near an elementary school I’ll call the police so maybe you should confess now.”
He was convicted of posting Epstein.
Barton was also found guilty of other tweets related to Vine, in which he referred to himself as a “bicycle nonce” and said things like: “If you see this bastard near a primary school please call 999” and “Watch out for the man patrolling in front of the primary school with a camera on his helmet. If you see him please call the police.”
He was acquitted of the remaining three tweets that referenced Vine.
Mr Burton was released on bail ahead of his sentencing on December 8th.
Giving evidence, Mr Barton, who also runs Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers, said he believed he was the victim of “political prosecution” and denied the aim was to “gather clicks and promote himself”.
He said his posts about Mr Ward and Mr Aluko were “dark and silly humor” and “attempted to raise serious issues in a provocative way”.
He said Epstein’s tweets about Vine were “dirty jokes” and that the “bikenance” was a well-known phrase used by non-cyclists against cyclists.
Burton said he did not mean to imply that Vine was a pedophile.
In his closing speech to a jury of seven men and five women, KC prosecutor Peter Wright said Barton had crossed a line that was “by a significant margin” beyond what was acceptable in society.
“Mr. Barton is not the victim in this case,” he said.
“He is not the free speech activist he wants himself to be.
“He is not a martyr to be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.
“He is simply a pure and unapologetic bully.
“A little bully who takes pleasure in sitting there with his cell phone in his hand and posting slander.”
Wright said Ward, Aluko and Vine were “collateral damage of self-promotion.”
In his legal instructions to jurors before deliberations, Mr Justice Menary said the word “grossly offensive” set a high threshold.
