Joey Barton

Retired footballer and manager Joey Barton “crossed the line between freedom of expression and crime” with social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV pundits Eni Aloko and Lucy Ward, a jury heard.

The 43-year-old former Manchester City midfielder is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive email with intent to cause distress or alarm.

The accusations arise from posts made in January and March last year on the social media platform X.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Barton “engaged in highly deliberate behaviour” and targeted the trio with “a series of highly offensive electronic communications”.

Mr Barton is accused of posting messages using slang to refer to Mr Vine as a pedophile.

He is also accused of describing former footballers Ms Ward and Ms Aluko as “the Fred and Rosemary West of football commentary” – a reference to the notorious serial killers.

Wright said Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, who denies all the accusations, has a “large following on

He added: “Some may find some of it funny.

“Everyone is entitled to their views, which represent all of these things.

“Even in a free democratic society they have the right to express opinions that are personally offensive, shocking or rude when they are considered to conflict with and enforce contemporary standards of an open, just, multiracial, equal and diverse society.

“What no one has the right to do is publish electronic communications – while applying these standards – outside the scope of what is acceptable in society.”

Wright added: “We say the defendant, Mr Barton, crossed the line between freedom of expression and crime on 12 occasions.

“On 12 occasions between early January and mid-March last year, he engaged in entirely intentional conduct in which he targeted three people, who are in various ways in the public eye, and subjected them through his posts to a large number of grossly offensive electronic communications with the intent to cause distress or anxiety.”

Wright said the defendant had publicly expressed his rejection of female commentators in what he considered to be a male preserve in football.

After a televised FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Everton, Aluko likened Ms Ward in X’s post to “Fred and Rose West on commentary” and added that the former was “just there to tick boxes”.

The court heard that Mr Barton later posted a photo of the serial killers with the critics’ faces superimposed on them.

Mr Wright said TV and radio presenter Mr Vine responded to Mr Barton’s comparisons by posting on X: “What’s going on with Joey7Barton? I just glanced at the Rose West thing… Honestly, is it possible we’re dealing with a brain injury here?”

“A brain injury can cause changes in a person’s personality, for example, anti-social behaviour. I sincerely hope he is well.”

The prosecutor told the jury: “The defendant did not read these interventions as an expression of concern for his safety but rather as an insult.

“He sent a post to Jeremy Vine’s X account in which he referred to him as ‘you big bike guy’.”

Among other posts, Barton then reposted a photo of Mr Vine with the caption: “If you see this person near a primary school call 999,” Wright said.

“We say that this defamatory, childish and frankly childish behavior by an adult man towards these people was, and continues to be, outside the scope of what is acceptable in society, and therefore qualifies as criminal.”

As well as Manchester City, Barton also played for Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Burnley and Marseille before moving into management after his retirement.

He was sacked from his last position as manager at Bristol Rovers in October 2023 after almost three years in charge.

The trial continues.