Former footballer Joey Barton, 42, has been found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of assaulting his wife at their family home in south-west London in June 2021.
The former Manchester City, Newcastle United and QPR midfielder, 42, is accused of assaulting Mrs Barton, 38, in June 2021, after they had been drinking with two other couples, while their children slept upstairs.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court previously heard the arguing started after Barton threatened to fight his wife’s brother and dad. Helena Duong, prosecuting, told the court in January: “There had been a verbal disagreement about a family matter.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
She alleged that Barton – who appeared in court wearing a dark coat, dark jumper, jeans and glasses – “grabbed her and pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the head”. As a friend tried to intervene, Barton “threw” him off and said “don’t disrespect me”, the court heard.
Mrs Barton called the police shortly after 11pm to “report she had been hit by her husband”, the court heard. The pair had both drunk “four or five bottles of wine”, a previous hearing was told.
During the 999 call played to the court, a tearful Mrs Barton told the call handler: “Me husband’s just hit me in the house. He’s in the house, I’m outside.” Asked if anything similar had happened before, she said: “No, it’s the first time,” adding that she had been hit “in the face”.
When police arrived at around 11.30pm, Mrs Barton told them: “I’ve been pushed down and kicked about and stuff. He said he was going to fight with my brother and my dad.”
The former footballer, of Widnes in Cheshire, was due to face trial at a magistrates’ court in 2022, but the case was adjourned after Mrs Barton sent a letter to prosecutors retracting her allegations. A judge then ordered that proceedings be paused over concerns a trial would be unfair to Barton after prosecutors said they did not plan to ask Mrs Barton to give evidence in court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Parkinson, appealed against the decision at the High Court in London, with barristers claiming at a hearing that a fair trial could go ahead.
In a judgment in June, two senior judges ruled in the DPP’s favour and said Barton should face a trial over the allegations in front of a different judge.
His career and life have been marked by numerous controversial incidents. Last year, broadcaster Jeremy Vine sued him for libel and harassment over 14 online posts, including one where he called Mr Vine a “big bike nonce” and a “pedo defender” on X, formerly Twitter.
Earlier this year, he appeared in court charged with sending offensive messages to Vine and commentator Lucy Ward.
He was stripped of his QPR captaincy in 2012 having been sent off during Manchester City’s dramatic final-day 3-2 win over QPR after elbowing Carlos Tevez and, as he left the pitch, Barton kicked Sergio Aguero before aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany.
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