Ex-footballer Joey Barton guilty of sending offensive messages to TV personalities
Former Premier League footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of sending grossly offensive messages to football pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward and broadcaster Jeremy Vine.
The former Manchester City player targeted his three victims on 12 occasions between early January and mid-March 2024.
Barton, 43, who’s from Widnes in Cheshire, has gained a sizable following on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
He publicly expresses a variety of views, including disapproval of female commentators on what he regards as the male preserve of football.
In January 2024, on X, he called ITV football presenters, Ms Aluko and Ms Ward "the Fred and Rose West of football commentary", comparing them to the two convicted serial killers.
The women did not respond but ITV issued a statement on X, the same day which said: "For Joey Barton, an ex professional player, with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killers in doing so, is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part. Football is for everyone.”
Barton’s online comments then became more offensive. He even posted an image of the notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West with the faces of Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko superimposed onto them, saying: "We've established they cannot take a joke and understand metaphors. So, I'll leave you with this.."
These posts led broadcaster Jeremy Vine to respond to Joey Barton, questioning whether he was well.
Barton then began an online tirade against Jeremey Vine, again via X, hurling grossly offensive insults at him.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges against Joey Barton for 12 counts of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety
On 14 March 2025 at Liverpool Crown Court, he entered not guilty pleas to all 12 counts, and the case went to trial.
At Liverpool Crown Court today (Friday, 7 November 2025) a jury found him guilty on six counts of the twelve counts and not guilty on six counts. He was found guilty on two counts of sending grossly offensive communications to Ms Aluko and Ms Ward and not guilty on three counts relating to them.
He was found guilty on four counts of sending grossly offensive messages to Jeremy Vine and not guilty on three counts relating to him.
He will be sentenced on 8 December 2025.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Callum Bryce of CPS Mersey-Cheshire said: “Between early January and mid-March 2024, Barton subjected three public figures to offences of malicious communications.
“Barton said in his evidence before the court that in some of his messages he was trying to make a serious point in a provocative way and that in others he was simply joking.
"The finding of the jury confirmed that his conduct had gone beyond any joke and his messages were grossly offensive with the purpose of causing anxiety and distress to his victims.”