The jury in the trial of ex-footballer Joey Barton who is accused of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts has retired to consider its verdicts.
Barton, 43, is said to have “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with tweets about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
Following a televised FA Cup tie in January 2024 between Crystal Palace and Everton he likened Ward and Aluko on a post on X, formerly Twitter, to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.
He went on to superimpose the faces of the two women onto a photograph of the serial murderers.
Barton also tweeted Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category” as she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears” and in a separate post wrote: “Only there to tick boxes. DEI is a load of shit. Affirmative action. All off the back of the BLM/George Floyd nonsense”.
The ex-Manchester City, Newcastle United and Marseille player – now a social commentator with 2.7 million followers on X – is said to have suggested Vine had a sexual interest in children after the TV and radio presenter sent a message querying whether Barton had a “brain injury”.
Barton repeatedly referred to Vine as “bike nonce” and asked him: “Have you been on Epstein Island? Are you going to be on these flight logs? Might as well own up now because I’d phone the police if I saw you near a primary school on ya bike.”
Barton, who also managed Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers, told Liverpool Crown Court he believes he is the victim of a “political prosecution” and denied his aim was “to get clicks and promote himself”.
He said his posts about Ward and Aluko were “dark and stupid humour” and he was “trying to make a serious point in a provocative way”.
His Epstein tweet to Vine was “crude banter” and that “bike nonce” was a known phrase used by non-cyclists about cyclists, he said. Barton said he had no intention of implying Vine was a paedophile.
In his closing speech to the jury of seven men and five women, prosecutor Peter Wright KC said Barton had crossed the line “by some considerable margin” beyond what is tolerable in society.
He said: “Mr Barton is not the victim here. He is not the free speech crusader that he would like to paint himself to be. He is not some martyr to be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.
“He is just simply an undiluted, unapologetic bully. A little bully who takes pleasure sitting there with his phone in his hand and then posting these slurs.”
Mr Wright said Ward, Aluko and Vine were the “collateral damage of his self-promotion”.
In his closing speech, Simon Csoka KC, defending, told the jurors it was for them to decide where the line between free speech and crime was but suggested if it was fixed “far too low” then free speech is “completely worthless”.
He said free expression in society should not be taken for granted and needed to be protected and cherished but “it comes with a price”.
Mr Csoka said: “One of the prices is that people will say things that are puerile and offensive. They may say things that are hurtful or in bad taste.
“They may get it wrong with a wind-up. They may not realise the impact of what they say.
“But those are all things, are they not, that can be tolerated and the reason they can is because freedom of speech is so important.
“What we say is that these idiotic or, at times, even offensive, shocking tweets do not go beyond the line. They don’t become grossly offensive.”
Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, denies 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March last year.
