Joey Barton convicted of sending grossly offensive social media posts

Former footballer Joey Barton has been convicted of sending grossly offensive social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Barton, 43, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with six posts he made on X, formerly Twitter.

He was cleared of six other counts that he sent a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024.

Following a televised FA Cup tie in January 2024 between Crystal Palace and Everton, he likened Ward and Aluko in a post on X to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.

He went on to superimpose the faces of the two women on to a photograph of the serial murderers.

Barton also tweeted Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category” as that she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears”.

Jurors found him not guilty on the Stalin/Pol Pot comparison, and also the commentary analogy with the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.

He was also convicted of a post in relation to Aluko in which he 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