What Joey Barton said about Jeremy Vine as he agrees £75,000 damages

Joey Barton has agreed to pay Jeremy Vine £75,000 after posting a number of defamatory comments about the presenter on social media.

The broadcaster sued the former footballer, 41, for libel and harassment in the High Court over posts he made on X in January where he used a number of slurs and made unfounded allegations.

Last month, a judge ruled the remarks made by the the former England and Chelsea striker in 11 posts were defamatory.

Today, Mr Barton apologised to Mr Vine in a statement he shared on X, revealing he had agreed to pay damages and legal costs in order to settle the case.

He said: “Between 8 and 12 January 2024 I published 11 posts which accused Jeremy Vine of having a sexual interest in children, and created a hashtag which made the same allegations, which were viewed millions of times.

“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.

“I also published posts during the same period in which I referred to Mr Vine having advocated forced vaccination during the Covid 19 pandemic, based upon a video 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.

“I then taunted and abused Mr Vine for bringing a legal complaint against me. 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.”

What did Joey Barton say about Jeremy Vine?

The ex-footballer was sued by the Radio 2 presenter over posts on X where he described Mr Vine as a “big bike nonce” and a “pedo defender”.

Lawyers for Mr Vine told the court that Mr Barton posted several abusive tweets about the broadcaster in early January this year, adding it was a “calculated and sustained attack”.

Mr Vine’s barrister, Gervase de Wilde, said the abuse began after Mr Barton compared football pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West on X and the broadcaster responded by asking if he had a brain injury.

Mr Barton then published several posts about Mr Vine to his 2.8 million followers on the social media site. His barrister, William McCormick KC, argued the posts contained “vulgar abuse” but did not libel Mr Vine.

He added that the posts represented someone “posting in the heat of the moment” and some were an “obvious attempt at humorous abuse”.

But Mr de Wilde said that the posts contained “clear references to (Mr Vine) having a sexual interest in children” and that the word “nonce” had “an irreducible, defamatory meaning”.

Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that 11 of the posts could defame Mr Vine, saying the word “nonce” was used to allege that Mr Vine “has a sexual interest in children” and that the use of the word “bike” was “a meaningless aspect of the accusation”.

Discussing one post which included the phrase “bike nonce”, the judge said: “In my judgment, the hypothetical ordinary reasonable reader would understand the post as taunting, scorning and ridiculing the claimant for his alleged proclivity.

“The jocular tone might be seen by the ordinary reasonable reader as in bad taste, given the subject matter, but it would not lead them to understand that no allegation of having a sexual interest in children was seriously being made.

“Nor would the reader perceive it as meaningless abuse ‘shouted’ in the heat of the moment, as there is nothing in the post that would give that impression.”