The BBC reported on Sunday, citing sources from the Liverpool Royal Court, that former Manchester City English midfielder Joey Barton has been convicted and will face sentencing for inappropriate use of social media to post hateful comments against two of the country's former legendary women's national team players, Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

According to the report, the Liverpool Royal Court jury ruled that six of Barton's tweets went beyond the bounds of "freedom of speech" and instead veered towards planned misogynistic content. The judge also deemed his statements "an inappropriate stance that cannot be tolerated in this civilized society."

The charges against Barton for the other six tweets have been dropped. The former player has been granted bail and will be sentenced on December 8th. However, during his bail, Barton is prohibited from having any form of contact with the two plaintiffs and their co-host, Jeremy Vine.

Following the court hearing, Aluko, one of the plaintiffs, stated in an interview: "Social media is a cesspit these days. Too many people use the banner of freedom of speech to act recklessly, saying things they wouldn't even dare to think of in real life."

"This reminds us that online behaviour is not without consequences."

"The messages Joey Barton sent to me, Lucy Ward, and Jeremy Vine caused me deep pain and serious damage to my life and career. I'm glad justice has been served."

Incident Details

In January 2024, after the FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Everton, Barton inexplicably uploaded an image via X that superimposed Ward and Aluko's heads onto the portraits of Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, describing them and Vine as "the Fred and Rose West, British serial killers of football commentary ."

Shortly after, he posted another image, this time with the heads of the two superimposed onto the portraits of Fred and Rose, captioned: "Eni Aluko, she's like Stalin and Pol Pot, killing thousands, even hundreds of millions of fans."

Furthermore, the former Manchester City player sparked controversy again by calling Aluko and everyone else "brain-dead" during the George Floyd incident in the US.

Later, Barton faced fierce criticism from fans across Britain for his occasional misogynistic and Aluko-related posts on X, even leading to his dismissal as manager of Bristol Rovers.

During this period, Lucy Ward publicly stated that she was becoming somewhat socially anxious due to Barton's harassment.

Six months later, after being criticized by Vine as acting like a "brain-dead" individual, Barton brazenly accused Vine of "pedophilia beyond normal logic" and "having sexual fantasies about children," leading to a formal lawsuit filed by Vine, Ward, and Aluko.

During the process, the former Premier League giants' player was convicted of defaming Vine and ordered to pay him £110,000 in damages for emotional distress.