Jeremy Vine tells court Joey Barton’s ‘paedophile’ claims put him in physical danger

The broadcaster Jeremy Vine has told a court that social media posts made by Joey Barton, the former footballer, alleging that he was a paedophile put him in “physical danger”.

Vine, 60, was accused of being a “nonce” by Barton on X in 2024, something he said was a “despicable thing to say” and made him feel “wickedly torn down for no reason”.

Speaking at Liverpool crown court on Wednesday, Vine detailed how he began to worry that Barton, who is accused of 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety, had developed an “obsession” with him. Barton denies all charges.

Barton, 43, first accused Vine of being a paedophile when the former BBC Radio 2 presenter responded to posts Barton had made on X likening the female football pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko to the serial killers Fred and Rose West after a January 2024 FA Cup game they had worked on.

Vine responded to the posts after feeling “quite shocked by what Mr Barton had said about two very respected commentators” and reprimanded him, asking: “Are we dealing with a brain injury here?”

Barton responded by calling Vine a “big bike nonce”. He later asked Vine “have you been on Epstein Island?” and “are you going to be on these flight logs?”

He went on to tell Vine that he might “as well own up now because I’d phone the police if I saw you near a primary school on ya bike”, and posted an image of Vine with the caption: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999.”

Vine told the court that Barton’s posts made him “feel physically unsafe” and he feared Barton and his followers were “like-minded”.

“If people want to find out where you live, they can,” Vine told the court. “I took some advice about my security, I varied my movements. I do believe these messages put me in danger, in physical danger.”

Vine also spoke about the mental anguish he felt from the allegations, saying that having your reputation “stripped from you by someone I have never met is completely devastating” and that his wife saw him “in pieces”.

Representing Barton, Simon Csoka KC claimed Vine was “just trying to be provocative on Twitter to get in on this story”.

Vine denied this but agreed with Csoka that his message was meant “as an amusing jibe”.

“I was actually trying to help the two targets of Mr Barton’s abuse and I probably did it in a silly way,” Vine told the court. “It certainly did not justify what followed.”

The trial continues.

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