Joey Barton ‘Escapes Jail’ After Offensive Social Media Posts

Former Premier League footballer Joey Barton has been handed a six-month suspended prison sentence for posting grossly offensive comments on social media about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

At Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Judge Andrew Menary ruled that Barton’s remarks went beyond free expression, sentencing him to six months in custody, suspended for 18 months.

Recall that in November, a jury found that Barton, 43, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with a series of six posts on X (formerly Twitter), where he has 2.6 million followers.

The case stemmed from several posts Barton made between January and March 2024. Following an FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton, he compared Ward and Aluko to “the Fred and Rose West of football commentary,” and later superimposed their faces onto a photograph of the infamous serial killers, an image jurors deemed grossly offensive.

He also likened Aluko, a former England women’s international, to dictators Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, claiming she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears.” Although he was cleared of charges linked to those comparisons, he was convicted for the doctored photo and another post implying that Aluko was merely a “diversity hire.”

Barton further used a sexually explicit insult against Jeremy Vine after the broadcaster queried whether he had a “brain injury,” and later suggested Vine had links to Jeffrey Epstein, the late American sex offender.

The jury acquitted Barton of six other allegations of sending offensive electronic communications intended to cause distress or anxiety.

In his defence, Barton told the court he believed he was the victim of a “political prosecution” and denied claims that he sought to “get clicks and promote himself.”

The suspended sentence means Barton will avoid jail unless he commits another offence within the next 18 months.