Joey Barton has been found guilty of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts.
The former footballer was found guilty of six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
The counts were over posts on X between January and March 2024 directed at broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
This included a post in which the 43-year-old compared Aluko and Ward to the serial killer couple Fred and Rose West, and called Vine a “bike nonce.”
The jury at Liverpool Crown Court concluded Barton had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with the posts.
However, they cleared him of six other counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety, the BBC reports.
During his career, Barton played for the likes of Manchester City, Everton and Newcastle. But in recent years, following an unsuccessful managerial career, Barton has used and monetised his large platform to denigrate women’s football, and amplify a number of right-wing, ‘culture war’ causes.
In August, Barton announced he was “retiring” from social media after being forced to pay Vine hundreds of thousands in libel damages for the social media posts.
The legal bill he faced in losing the libel case brought by Vine meant he could even have had to pay rent on his own house.
Separately, Barton was widely condemned for disgusting comments he made last year towards female football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
In a post on X following a televised FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton, Barton said the pair were the “Fred and Rosemary West of football commentary.”
He later posted an image of the serial killers with the faces of the two pundits superimposed on to them.
Barton had argued in court that the posts about Ward and Aluko were “dark and stupid” but “just a joke.”
He also said his “bike nonce” comments about Vine were in response to the presenter “trying to goad him” to go on his Channel 5 show to discuss his views about female football pundits.
He claimed the posts were him “trying to make a joke of it.”