Joey Barton Charged Over Offensive X Posts

Former footballer and manager Joey Barton, 43, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of 12 counts of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety for posts on X between January and March 2024 targeting broadcaster Jeremy Vine and pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward. Prosecutor Peter Wright KC told jurors the crown says Barton, who has more than two million followers on X, engaged in a deliberate course of conduct that crossed the line between free speech and criminality. The alleged posts included accusing Vine of paedophilia, calling him a “bike nonce,” suggesting links to Jeffrey Epstein and warning people to call police if they saw him near a primary school, and pasting Aluko’s and Ward’s faces onto an image of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West. Barton has pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges. The prosecution says the messages were intended to cause distress or anxiety while acknowledging some comments might be seen as cutting or controversial, and the trial is ongoing.