Football pundit Eni Aluko said she was "glad justice has been served" after former England player Joey Barton was found guilty of sending "grossly offensive" social media posts aimed at her and other broadcasters. In early 2024, Barton compared Aluko and commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West, and called Jeremy Vine a "bike nonce".

Prosecutors told Liverpool Crown Court Barton had "crossed the line between free speech and a crime". In a statement released after Barton's conviction, qualified lawyer Aluko said: "Social media is a cesspit where too many people feel they can say things to others they wouldn't dream of saying in real life under the guise of freedom of speech." She added: "This is a reminder that actions online do not come without consequences. "The messages directed at me, Lucy Ward and Jeremy Vine by Joey Barton were deeply distressing and had a real damaging impact on my life and career. "I am glad that justice has been served."

Jurors convicted former Manchester City, Newcastle and QPR midfielder Barton, 43, of six counts of sending grossly offensive social media posts and cleared him of six others. He will be sentenced on 8 December. After the guilty verdicts, Ward - who told the trial that Barton's posts felt like "continuous harassment" - issued an Instagram post in which she wrote: "Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. "It's been an extremely difficult and sometimes harrowing last two years."

The pundits had been working on ITV's coverage of an FA Cup tie in January 2024 when Barton suggested they were the "Fred and Rose West of football commentary". He superimposed the pundits' faces on a photograph of the married serial killers, who also tortured and raped a number of women between 1967 and 1987. Barton also posted that Aluko was in the "Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category", saying she had "murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans' ears". Jurors found him not guilty on the comparison to the 20th Century dictators and the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.

Barton, originally from Huyton in Merseyside, was also convicted over a post in which he claimed Aluko was "only there to tick boxes" as he criticised diversity schemes. His post said her input was "all off the back of the BLM [Black Lives Matter]/George Floyd nonsense", referring to the 2020 killing of a black man by US police. Barton, who has 2.6 million followers on X, claimed his posts about Vine were merely "crude banter" and that in using the phrase "bike nonce" he had never intended to imply the radio presenter was a paedophile. He was convicted over posts suggesting Vine had visited "Epstein island" - a reference to the paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein - and one saying: "If you see this fella by a primary school call 999."

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