The former footballer and manager Joey Barton has issued a public apology on the social media site X and has agreed to pay £75,000 to Jeremy Vine, after a high court ruling that calling the broadcaster a “bike nonce” on social media was defamatory.
The radio and TV presenter sued Barton after the former footballer called him a “bike nonce” and a “pedo defender” during an online argument on X in January and March this year. In May the high court ruled that the social media posts could defame Vine.
“The hypothetical reader would not have gained the impression that this was meaningless abuse, in the heat of the moment,” Justice Steyn said, adding: “It was a statement of fact, and it was defamatory at common law.”
On Tuesday, at 12.24pm, Barton posted the apology from the X account he had previously used to insult the broadcaster. He wrote that he had accused Vine of having a sexual interest in children, and had created a hashtag with the allegations which had been viewed millions of times.
Barton posted: “I recognise that this is a very serious allegation. It is untrue. I do not believe that Mr Vine has a sexual interest in children, and I wish to set the record straight.”
He also apologised for posts that had stated that Vine had advocated forced vaccination, based on an edited clip of his TV programme. “I accept that he did not advocate this policy and that the video clip has been edited to give a misleading impression of what he was in fact saying,” he said.
He went on to apologise for the fact that he had “taunted and abused” Vine for bringing a legal complaint. He wrote: “I have agreed not to make the same allegations again about Mr Vine and I apologise to him for the distress he has suffered. To resolve his claims against me in defamation and harassment, I have agreed to pay Mr Vine £75,000 in damages and his legal costs.”
Lawyers acting for Vine said the abuse began last year after Barton called the female football pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward “the Fred and Rose West of football commentary”, referring to the British serial killers.
The court heard that Barton began a series of posts criticising women involved in football and football punditry from late 2023.
Vine responded, asking: “Is it possible we are dealing with a brain injury here?”, which his lawyer said had resulted in a “calculated and sustained attack” in January this year.
Lawyers acting for Vine had argued that a hypothetical reader “would appreciate that ‘bacon’ was short for the rhyming-slang expression ‘bacon bonce’ meaning ‘nonce’,” referring to one of the tweets that called Vine a “bike nonce” and “raving bacon”.
Other tweets by Barton referenced Vine’s views on the Covid vaccine, called Vine a “weasel” and “government shill” and said: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999”.
Faced with legal action, Barton posted on X: “Fella who served me the papers was sound. Told me he completely agreed with me and to keep going.”
Lawyers acting for Barton argued that the posts conveyed “no meaning” or none that was defamatory under law, and said a reader would have to be “careless” and “unsophisticated” to think Barton was alleging paedophilia.
“It would be seen as abuse posted in the heat of the moment which no one would take seriously, and which has no meaning,” Barton’s lawyer argued.
Source: theguardian.com
