Former footballer guilty over posts directed at football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko, and broadcaster Jeremy Vine
The former footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
A jury at Liverpool crown court found that Barton, 43, of Widnes, Cheshire, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with a series of posts made to his more than 2 million followers on X between January and March 2024. He was cleared of a further six counts.
The first posts made by Barton targeted the female football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko after the two women had worked on the coverage of a 17 January 2024 FA Cup tie between Everton and Crystal Palace.
Barton, a longtime critic of female involvement in men’s football, criticised the women’s punditry of the fixture and compared them to notorious serial killers, calling them 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. Ward told the court on Tuesday that these posts left her feeling “physically scared”.
