- Joey Barton was found guilty of assaulting his wife at a court earlier on Tuesday
- The former Man City midfielder avoided jail time before a controversial post on X
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Football fans have vented their anger on social media following Joey Barton’s use of a slogan closely affiliated with the Irish Republican Army after being found guilty of assaulting his wife.
The former Manchester City midfielder, 42, said he was ‘disappointed’ after being found guilty of assault following a two-day trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Barton avoided jail and was given a 12-week suspended prison sentence for the offence, but quickly took to X to say: ‘Really disappointed in the magistrate’s decision today. Especially, after a judge 2 and a half years ago in Wimbledon Magistrates ruled in my favour.
‘I intend to appeal this decision to a higher court, the crown court and whilst this process is ongoing that’s all I will say on the matter.’
He wrote in another post ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’, which translates to ‘our day will come’ – an Irish republican slogan that was coined during the Troubles and was often shouted by IRA defendants and their supporters in court.
As such, the use of the controversial phrase saw him widely criticised on social media.
Former footballer Joey Barton leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of assaulting his wife, Georgia Barton
Barton is pictured on holiday with his wife, Georgia. He has today been convicted of assaulting her
Following the verdict he took to X to write: ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’, which translates to ‘our day will come’ – an Irish republican slogan that was coined during the Troubles
A number of people responded, with one writing: ‘Disgusting you even saying that.’
Another added: ‘Ireland doesn’t want you.’
While a third responded in Irish Gaelic: ‘Pog mo thoin [sic],’ which translates to ‘kiss my a***’, followed by a middle finger emoji.
Others, however, posted screen grabs of the news alert of his conviction, and others an image of a white vest, commonly referred to as a ‘wife-beater’.
The court heard he left Georgia Barton, 36, with a ‘golf ball’ sized-lump on her head after threatening to fight her brother and father.
In a tearful 999 call played to the court after the attack at the couple’s west London home in June 2021, Mrs Barton said her husband ‘just hit me in the house’.
She was filmed on police body-worn cameras telling officers she had been ‘pushed down and kicked about’ as her children slept upstairs.
In February 2022 Mrs Barton wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service to say she no longer supported the case. The couple are still married. But last year the High Court decided her husband should still face trial.
The court heard that Barton had left his wife George with a ‘golf ball’ sized-lump on her head
Social media users reacted furiously to Barton’s use of the controversial phrase on X
Convicting the ex-footballer, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said he believed Barton and his wife had lied to the court about what happened that night.
‘I believe the veracity of the first account and it is supported by other evidence,’ he said. ‘The account on the telephone in the 999 call and to the attending officer is true.
‘I reject the account by Mrs Barton over eight months later and repeated in the witness box by her.’
The judge said a later explanation put forward by Mrs Barton, that she had sustained the injuries accidentally, was ‘unbelievable’.
He added the couple had contradicted themselves during their evidence in trial, because ‘they were not being truthful about what happened’.
Sentencing shamed footballer Barton, Mr Goldspring told him: ‘You’ve been found guilty of an offence of assaulting your wife.
‘The one place your wife is entitled to feel safe and protected is her home, and the one person she is entitled to feel safe and protected by is you, and that’s not what happened in this case.’
