Joey Barton has been found guilty of sending grossly offensive social media posts about broadcaster Jeremy Vine and TV football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Barton, 43, had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with six posts he made on X, formerly Twitter. He was cleared of six other counts that he sent a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024. Peter Wright KC continued: “Everyone is entitled to express views that are all of those things. What someone is not entitled to do is to post communications electronically that are – applying those standards – beyond the pale of what is tolerable in society.” Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, had denied 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024. He was cleared on the other six counts, which pertained to other posts on X in the same period.

Following a televised FA Cup tie in January 2024 between Crystal Palace and Everton, he likened Ward and Aluko in a post on X to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.

He went on to superimpose the faces of the two women onto a photograph of the serial murderers.

The court also heard Barton tweeted Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category” as she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears”.

Jurors found him not guilty on the Stalin/Pol Pot comparison, and also the commentary analogy with the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.

He was also convicted of a post in relation to Aluko in which he wrote “Only there to tick boxes. DEI is a load of s***. Affirmative action. All off the back of the BLM/George Floyd nonsense”.

The court heard that in another post on X, Barton asked Vine: “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.”

He was convicted over the Epstein post.

Barton was also found guilty of other tweets in relation to Vine in which he referred to him as “bike nonce” and said: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999,” and “Beware Man with Camera on his helmets cruising past primary schools. Call the Cops if spotted.”

He was cleared of guilt over three remaining tweets referring to Vine.

Barton was bailed ahead of sentencing on December 8.

Giving evidence, Barton, who also managed Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers, said he believed he is the victim of a “political prosecution” and denied his aim was “to get clicks and promote himself”.

He said his posts about Ward and Aluko were “dark and stupid humour” and he was “trying to make a serious point in a provocative way”.

His Epstein tweet to Vine was “crude banter” and that “bike nonce” was a known phrase used by non-cyclists about cyclists, he said.

Barton said he had no intention of implying Vine was a paedophile.

In his closing speech to the jury of seven men and five women, prosecutor Peter Wright KC said Barton had crossed the line “by some considerable margin” beyond what is tolerable in society.

He said: “Mr Barton is not the victim here.

“He is not the free speech crusader that he would like to paint himself to be.

“He is not some martyr to be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.

“He is just simply an undiluted, unapologetic bully.

“A little bully who takes pleasure sitting there with his phone in his hand and then posting these slurs.”

Mr Wright said Ward, Aluko and Vine were the “collateral damage of his self-promotion”.

In legal directions to jurors before their deliberations, Judge Menary said the words “grossly offensive” set a high threshold.