Ex-Premier League footballer Joey Barton accused broadcaster Jeremy Vine of being a paedophile during a series of posts on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, in 2024
Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has told a jury he felt “wickedly torn down for no reason” by ex-footballer Joey Barton who accused him of being a paedophile.
The TV and radio presenter said he stepped in to help football commentators Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko after Barton had posted an image of their faces superimposed on to a photograph of notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West.
Following a televised FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton in January 2024, the former Manchester City and Newcastle United player had earlier likened Ward and Aluko on an X post to the “Fred and Rose West of commentary”.
Vine responded on X: “What’s going on with @Joey7Barton? I just glanced at the Rose West thing… genuinely, is it possible we are dealing with a brain injury here?”
Barton, 43, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court over allegations he sent grossly offensive social media posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, to Ward, Aluko and Vine with intent to cause distress or anxiety. Giving evidence on Wednesday, Vine said: “I was quite shocked by what Mr Barton had said about two very respected commentators in Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.
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“I thought it was very vicious to impose them on the images of two mass murderers of children, and I was looking for an explanation. I said ‘are we dealing with a brain injury here’ as a way of underlining my own feelings that he had crossed the line on that tweet.”
Barton responded to Vine’s tweet with a post in which he referred to him as “you big bike nonce,” the court heard. Barton later replied to a posting from Vine in which the broadcaster celebrated the birthdate of Elvis Presley.
The defendant, who has 2.7 million followers on X, wrote: “Elvis was a nonce as well. Priscilla was underage and Elvis has a history of that kind of thing.
“Have you been on Epstein Island? Are you going to be on these flight logs? Might as well own up now because I’d phone the police if I saw you near a primary school on ya bike.”
Asked by prosecutor Peter Wright KC about that post, Vine said: “I could see this was now escalating. I was very alarmed he was choosing this word ‘nonce’ to throw around. He had obviously decided to go in on accusing me.
“I was beginning to get very worried that Barton had got this obsession with me, with labelling me to his many followers, many who were like-minded. At this point I was really alarmed. I just had a sense he was not going to stop.”
Barton went on to repost an image of Vine with the caption “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999”, the court was told. Vine told the jury: “This now gets really serious. He is accusing me of being a paedophile.
“I’m a law-abiding father-of-two, I’m a faithful husband. These are disgusting actions. It’s a despicable thing to say. It gravely upset me and I had a sleepless night that night.”
As further posts followed he told Mr Wright he “began to feel scared.” Vine said: “I realised I had to take some action but I was not sure what to do. I realised the quickest remedy would be some sort of civil action.
“Your reputation is all you have got. To have it stripped from you by someone I have never met is completely devastating. My wife saw me in pieces.”
Civil proceedings were issued in March 2024, the court was told, and a week later a post from Barton’s Twitter account read: “If anyone has got anything on Jeremy Vine – pictures, screenshots, videos, messages, you think will help us in the case, please send them to me using the hashtag #bikenonce.”
Mr Wright asked the witness how he felt about that message. Vine replied: “It means I want dirt on Jeremy Vine to fight back, in short. I thought this is incredible, I just couldn’t believe he was saying it.”
Asked by Mr Wright how Barton’s messages had affected him in his day-to-day activities, Vine said: “I genuinely believed that what Mr Barton did made me feel physically unsafe. If people want to find out where you live they can.
“I took some advice about my security, I varied my movements. I do believe these messages put me in danger, in physical danger. 2.7 million people, one of them has a knife.”
He said he had had to explain the “cloud of filth” to his two young daughters. Mr Wright said: “In terms of the effect this had on you looking back at this event, how do you feel about this now?”
Vine said: “I think I went into a kind of panic over this. I felt I was being wickedly torn down for no reason, no cause. It was like a vicious assault on me. That’s what I felt. It disrupted my life for over a year. I never want to be in that place again in my life. It was a terrible, terrible time.”
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Jurors were told that in June 2024 Barton agreed to pay Vine £75,000 damages for defamation and harassment, together with his legal costs, as both parties settled in the civil action. In a further settlement between both parties Barton paid Vine £35,000 damages and legal costs over similar matters.
The court heard Barton also apologised to Vine via a post on his X account in June 2024 in which he said he had made a “very serious allegation” on social media, with millions of views, in which he accused Vine of having a sexual interest in children which he said was “untrue”.
Simon Csoka KC, defending, suggested to Vine that his response to the Fred and Rose West tweet was him “just trying to be provocative on Twitter to get in on this story.”
Vine replied: “I was actually trying to help the two targets of Mr Barton’s abuse and I probably did it in a silly way. It certainly did not justify what followed.”
Mr Csoka said: “You meant it as an amusing jibe.” Vine said: “I accept that.”
Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, denies the offences said to have been committed between January and March 2024.
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