Joey Barton received a six-month suspended prison sentence, a two-year restraining order, and 200 hours of community service after being convicted for “grossly offensive” social media posts targeting football pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, and TV broadcaster Jeremy Vine.
Joey Barton has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, after being found guilty of six charges of sending “grossly offensive” electronic communications.
The posts, aimed at football pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, and TV broadcaster Jeremy Vine, resulted in a two-year restraining order and 200 hours of community service for the former men’s footballer.
Barton was convicted for superimposing Aluko and Ward’s faces on a photograph of serial murderers, and for a post saying Aluko was “only there to tick boxes.”
Speaking afterward, Barton said: “If I could turn back the clock I would. I never meant to hurt anyone. It was a joke that got out of hand. Nobody wants to go to jail.”