Eni Aluko has responded to Joey Barton’s sentencing for a series of offensive social media posts he made towards the former England footballer.
On Monday, Barton was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, for a offensive social media posts he made last year.
The ex-Manchester City and Newcastle player had been found guilty on six counts of making “grossly offensive” social media posts on the platform X, aimed at former women’s footballer Eni Aluko, pundit Lucy Ward, and the radio and TV broadcaster Jeremy Vine.
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Predictably, the sentencing has sparked fury from the usual suspects on the right who claim it is an example of free speech being restricted in Britain.
But speaking to Newsnight after the sentencing, Aluko rightly pointed out that free speech has never been unlimited in British law.
She told the programme: “There has always been harassment laws, there’s always been defamation laws, they’ve been around for a very long time.
“Those are the laws that we’ve relied on and acted on to get the sentence that has been handed down today.”
Aluko highlighted how the Malicious Communications Act has been in law for years.
She continued: “I think the online space has created this false pretence that you can say what you want and that it doesn’t have the same real world consequences as if you did it in real life.
“Free speech has always had parameters, has always had consequences and I think this case is a reminder of that.”
Aluko also dismissed Barton’s claims that he “never meant to hurt anyone” with his comments, saying he “thrives on hurting people.”