'A little bully': Joey Barton found guilty over social media posts

Joey Barton has been found guilty of posting grossly offensive messages on social media.

Barton was found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court of six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety. During his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the ex-Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder, 43, said he believed he was the victim of a "political prosecution" and denied his aim was "to get clicks and promote himself".

But the jury decided Barton, who also played for England in 2007, had "crossed the line between free speech and a crime" with six posts he made on X. The prosecution argued his comments on the platform, where he boasts more than two million followers, "may well be characterised as cutting, caustic, controversial and forthright".

Peter Wright KC continued: "Everyone is entitled to express views that are all of those things. "What someone is not entitled to do is to post communications electronically that are - applying those standards - beyond the pale of what is tolerable in society." Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, denied 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March last year.

On six counts he was found guilty, but on another six he was cleared. Barton wore a scarf patterned with the Union flag as the verdicts were returned.

Addressing him, the honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Andrew Menary KC, said: "He has chosen to adorn himself with a particular flag which I suppose is a stunt to make a point. "He will not be permitted to do that on the sentencing date." In one post on X, in January 2024, Barton compared football commentators Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko to the "Fred and Rose West of football commentary.