Poor Joey in court again

Joey Barton has been charged with alleged 'malicious communications' towards pundit and former England star Eni Aluko - and branded the legal system a 'banana republic' in response.

Barton will appear in court on July 30 after an investigation by Cheshire Police.

In January, the former Premier League footballer compared Aluko and fellow pundit Lucy Ward to the serial killers Fred and Rose West.


'A man from Widnes has been summoned to court to face charges of malicious communications,' a Cheshire Police statement read.

'Following an investigation by Cheshire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service has since authorised the charges for Joseph Barton. The 41-year-old will appear at Warrington Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 30 July.


Joey Barton has been charged with alleged 'malicious communications' towards Eni Aluko.  Responding to the charges, Barton wrote on X: 'I'm up next month for 'malicious communications' charge at Warrington Mag for Eni Aluko tweets.

'Crazy times we're living in. Haven't the Police got enough on their hands?

'British system is becoming a Banana Republic. Lawfare used against its own citizens for having a dissenting voice.'

In February Aluko accused Barton of subjecting her to one of the worst cases of social media abuse I've ever experienced' after a stream of vile messages.

After she covered Crystal Palace's FA Cup draw with Everton in January with Ward, Barton had written: 'How is she even talking about men's football? She can't even kick a ball properly. Your coverage of the game EFC last night, took it to a new low. Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, the Fred and Rose West of football commentary.'

The Wests murdered 12 women and young girls over the course of 20 years. Fred took his own life before facing trial while Rose was sentenced to 10 life terms. She remains in prison aged 70.

Barton then stoked the fire further by making his criticism even more extreme, writing that Aluko was 'clearly in the Joseph Stalin category' for 'murdering hundreds of thousands of fans' ears'.

Barton then stoked the fire further by making his criticism even more extreme, writing that Aluko was 'clearly in the Joseph Stalin category' for 'murdering hundreds of thousands of fans' ears'.   

A decent brief would surely get him off the aluko
charge as she is the worst pundit on tv by miles.

But he's made it difficult for himself by bringing in other
people.

He needs to get smarter with his critiques

This case is prudent and correct to deter any copy-cat contributors of social media doing the same eg maliciously and wrongfully comparing an individual of social media to mass murderers/killers couple 'Fred and Rose Ward. Mr Barton has crossed the line. As such, a restitution of some sort is an absolute must.

I hope the court case will redress the attention seeking and media social skills of Mr Barton swiftly and accordingly.

Barton is deranged and needs sectioning.

I have not heard Fred and Rose West do football commentary, so I cannot comment on whether it is a fair comparison.

Barton says some stupid things but laws like this need to be scrapped.

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a)on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine (or both);

(b)on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine (or both)

I’d say guilty and fine him 1p.

There are some excellent female commentators and pundits on many sports but there is yet to be one in football.

Emma Hayes is a great pundit.

She understands woman's football, and proper
football.

She would be a better manager than Joey too, for
any football team.

Joey not a bad manager, but how can folk take
him seriously and give 100% to him when he's more
interested in opining on whatever comes into his heed.

lisa Fallon is great pundit on Irish TV, worked for Michael O'Neil when Irish International boss and other big clubs, holds all the top licences (whatever they are worth, has anybody failed ?) but she knows her stuff.

The bloke is an ignorant buffoon, end of.

To successfully prosecute someone for malicious communications, points to prove include: Proving that the accused's communications were intended to cause distress. Proving that the communications were sent.

Proving that the communications were intended to cause distress will be very difficult. Like him or loathe him freedom of speech is part of our democracy. If everyone who throws an insult were to be charged then there wouldnt be many left on this forum! Or any other forum.

I think there is little doubt, if any, the comments
were likely to cause distress, and intended in that manner.

He's been done for libel, and learnt a hard lesson there.

I'm guessing these comments were made before he settled libel
case, and as such he can claim to have already
learnt he has behaved abominably, issue apologies, grovel,
and then get a slapped wrist on top of his libel losses.

his comments since being charged don't indicate he has grovelling on his agenda , or apologising.

Indeed.

That sort of person wouldn't know how to apologise.

Comparing her to Rose West goes a bit beyond free speech and I reckon it'll be a doddle for a barrister to prove distress was intended. Otherwise he could just call her crap at her job.

How can anyone take comments like this seriously ...

He is just saying they are crap pundits,not that they are serial killers.

If they are distressed at being called crap pundits then - whether or not they are crap - should not go on TV in the first place.

Goes without saying that anyone who takes these comments literally should be disqualified from jury service and certainly any role in the justice system.

What a joke this country is.

Maybe this is why Labour are letting all the burglars out early, they will need 10,000 cells for all the people who said hurty words on twitter.

Why not say they are crap pundits rather than intending
to cause distress.

Not sure why you feel it's a Labour issue
when legislation has been in place over 25 years, and prisons
are full after 14 years of tory austerity despite
Tories letting thieves go free without prison time.

Yes thank goodness we have got rid of that Labour government of this past 14 years.

I do not feel sorry for Mr Barton. He's a loud-mouth with a history of making wild malicious comments on others on social media. I'm glad he's being taken to court. I hope he receives the same verdict as that actor turned politician who makes professionally and disparaging personal attack on another female presenter/reporter.

his libel case with VINE isnt over the 75 grand payment and his briefs written apology on his behalf was only the start for 5 tweets,theres still another court case or barton offering to pay damages for another 6 cases against vine,barton tried to potray in his apology that it was all settled and vine took to twitter to put him right

Barton is mentally ill.

This needs stating publicly.

I would watch Joey Barton and Roy Keane in a studio discussion.
It could kick off and outrank Unkraine and Gaza if one of them said anything.