Joey Barton spared jail after found guilty of assaulting his wife at their family home

The former Manchester City midfielder, 42, pushed his wife to the ground before kicking her in the head after the pair drunk 'four or five' bottle of wine, a court was told

Joey Barton arriving at court today

Former footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of assaulting his wife at their family home in south-west London. The former Manchester City and QPR midfielder left Georgia Barton, 38, with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose after the incident in June 2021.

Barton grabbed his wife and pushed her to the ground before kicking her in the head after having a drunken row about a family matter. Sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring rejected Barton’s account of events given during evidence as untruthful and “vague”.

While he acknowledged Barton had “a record of violence”, the magistrate said: “I am satisfied that it is not necessary to impose an immediate custodial sentence.” Mr Goldspring said the couple remained in a “happy relationship” with a young child, adding: “That is not something I want to interfere with.”

Barton was handed a 12-week sentence suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to pay £2,183 in victim surcharge and prosecution costs within seven days.

On the night of the assault, Mrs Barton called the police shortly after 11pm to "report she had been hit by her husband", a court heard. The pair had both drunk "four or five bottles of wine" and had been socialising with others.

During the 999 call played to the court, a tearful Mrs Barton told the call handler: "Me husband's just hit me in the house. He's in the house, I'm outside." Asked if anything similar had happened before, she said: "No, it's the first time," adding that she had been hit "in the face".

When police arrived at around 11.30pm, Mrs Barton told them: "I've been pushed down and kicked about and stuff. He said he was going to fight with my brother and my dad."

The former footballer, of Widnes in Cheshire, was due to face trial at a magistrates' court in 2022, but the case was adjourned after Mrs Barton sent a letter to prosecutors retracting her allegations. A judge then ordered that proceedings be paused over concerns a trial would be unfair to Barton after prosecutors said they did not plan to ask Mrs Barton to give evidence in court.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Parkinson, appealed against the decision at the High Court in London, with barristers claiming at a hearing that a fair trial could go ahead.

In a judgment in June, two senior judges ruled in the DPP's favour and said Barton should face a trial over the allegations in front of a different judge.

His career and life have been marked by numerous controversial incidents. Last year, broadcaster Jeremy Vine sued him for libel and harassment over 14 online posts, including one where he called Mr Vine a "big bike nonce" and a "pedo defender" on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier this year, he appeared in court charged with sending offensive messages to Vine and commentator Lucy Ward.

He was stripped of his QPR captaincy in 2012 having been sent off during Manchester City's dramatic final-day 3-2 win over QPR after elbowing Carlos Tevez and, as he left the pitch, Barton kicked Sergio Aguero before aiming a headbutt at Vincent Kompany.

Barton was handed a 12-week suspended prison sentence for the assault.