Joey Barton Given Six-Month Prison Sentence, Suspended For 18 Months Over Social Media Posts

Joey Barton has been sentenced to a six-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, for sending ‘grossly offensive’ social media posts.

This means that if he commits another offence within 18 months, whether an offensive social media post or otherwise, the former footballer will be jailed for six months.

Barton, 43, was found guilty of sending six grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024. These included the following:

– A post about Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward that included the comment they were “only there to tick boxes” and “DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a load of sh**”.

– A post with a superimposed image of Aluko and Ward’s faces on a photograph of serial killers Fred and Rose West.

– A post referring to Jeremy Vine as a “bike nonce,” asking if he had been for a “tandem” ride with “Rolf-aroo” (Rolf Harris) and (Philip) Schofield.

– Another post about Vine where Barton wrote: “Elvis was a nonce as well”.

– A post featuring a photo of Vine with the caption: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999”.

– Another post about Vine stating: “Beware man with camera on helmets cruising past primary schools. Call the Cops if spotted”.

Grossly offensive? Maybe. A jailable offence? I guess so, in 2025. Interestingly, a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years is exactly the same punishment that Huw Edwards received for possessing indecent images of children. Just something worth thinking about.

That’s not to trivialise Joey Barton’s behaviour, of course. The guy is indisputably a massive pr1ck who doesn’t know when to stop, even when repeatedly warned that he is landing himself in hot water. I’m not advocating that the state should arrest people for offensive social media posts, but seeing as that is the climate we live in, Joey Barton was really rather thick to keep doing it, especially in regards to other public figures.

It’s also worth noting that it’s not just about Barton’s ‘offensive’ words, either. His platform encouraged a massive pile-on every time he Tweeted about Jeremy Vine or Eni Aluko, and he simply took things too far because he thought he could get away with it.

Barton argued that his comments were “crude banter” and “dark and stupid humour”, and that he was the victim of “political prosecution”, and I guess he can keep on arguing that latter point now that he lost out in court.

Will be interesting to see if Barton can get through the next 18 months without doing or saying anything stupid, as it could now literally land him behind bars. No doubt there’ll be plenty of people on X lining up to bait him into it. Will he able to resist? We’ll see.

For the hilarious moment at Joey Barton’s trial where he thought the prosecutor had called him a “nonce”, click HERE. Too funny.