Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward gave evidence in court, as Joey Barton denied 12 counts of sending grossly offensive communications intended to cause distress or anxiety on social media
Ex-footballer turned TV pundit Eni Aluko told Liverpool Crown Court that she felt one of the social media posts linked to Joey Barton was a ‘targeted attack’ that left her feeling ‘scared’.
The post, which was shared last year on Barton’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account, compared Aluko and fellow ex-footballer turned broadcaster Lucy Ward to ‘Fred and Rose West of football commentary’ while they were covering an FA Cup tie for ITV. Another post on X accused ITV of hiring ‘under-qualified, under-prepared, tokenistic people,’ and claimed Aluko had been hired ‘to tick boxes’ – a comment which has been interpreted as referencing her race.
An edited image also circulated, showing Aluko and Ward’s faces superimposed on to those two infamous serial killers. Barton faces 12 charges of sending grossly offensive communications intended to cause distress or anxiety. He denies all charges.
On Tuesday, both Aluko and Ward spoke about the impact of Barton’s alleged social media posts. Aluko said she was left ‘devastated’ by the comments, especially after what she described as ‘supportive and encouraging’ interactions with the former England international between 2017 and 2020.
She added that an ITV producer informed her of Barton’s social media attacks the day after her appearance on the broadcaster. “I think I was in shock to be honest, and the first thing I said was, ‘What happened? Was there anything in the show I said or that went wrong? Aluko said.
“I was trying to understand why someone would compare you to the worst serial killers the UK had ever seen based on commentary in a football match.”
Other posts on his account referenced ‘woke’ and ‘DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) bulls***’ while another post responded to a video of Aluko kicking a football by writing: “F***ing pathetic. Get them off the Men’s Football. Off the tele.
“Only there to tick boxes. DEI is a load of s**t. Affirmative action.
“All off the back of the BLM (Black Lives Matter)/George Floyd nonsense. Cancel me, I don’t care anymore.”
Aluko also admitted she cancelled engagements after feeling too scared to leave the house, having taken the post as a ‘targeted attack’. She added: “I felt attacked and very much targeted, and the nature of social media is that people repeat what others say, so Joey Barton, with the amount of followers he has is emboldening others to say very similar and you see it repeated over and over again.”
She also said she avoided leaving her home for a week, feeling ‘intimidated’ and ‘depressed’. Ward added that she expected Barton to eventually target her, given the frequency of her television appearances.
When asked by prosecutor Peter Wright KC how she felt about the post of her and Aluko superimposed on to Fred and Rose West, she said: “Intimidated. It was very unpleasant to be the subject of someone’s abuse. I’m trying to do my job.
“I am one of the few females doing it, and I have already crossed over a lot of barriers. It’s tough to do your job with that happening. Fred and Rose West tortured, sexually abused and killed children, so I couldn’t really work out why I was being called that. At first, it was very, very harsh, but then obviously it continued.
“It was getting to the stage now where I got a little scared – physically scared, really.”
In another exchange, defence barrister Simon Csoka KC asked Ward whether she understood the metaphor behind Barton’s comment that she was ‘murdering’ commentary, suggesting: “It doesn’t mean they’re murdering anyone – it just means they’re doing a bad job of it.”
Ward replied: “I understand what was meant, but found it grossly offensive. It’s not just the content of the tweets, it’s encouraging others to pile in. It was constant harassment and bullying.”
Csoka also asked Aluko whether she believed Barton was directly comparing her to Fred and Rose West. The ex-Chelsea player responded: “All I understood was that he invoked the names of the worst serial killers in the UK to describe me talking about football.
“If you see a headline that says; ‘Eni Aluko compared to Fred and Rose West’ and it doesn’t mention football then, of course, someone can draw a different conclusion from that.”
The trial continues.