Joey Barton labeled Jeremy Vine “a nonce” as part of the “sustained attack” on social media, the court heard.

Joey Barton labeled Jeremy Vine a “nonce” as part of a “calculated and sustained attack”, the High Court was told. The former Bristol Rovers manager is facing legal action from the TV and radio presenter over 14 online posts, including calling Mr Vine a “bike bike nonce” and a “pedo defender” on X.

Vine is suing the former midfielder for defamation and harassment following an exchange on social media over Mr Barton’s criticism of women’s involvement in men’s football. At a hearing today (Thursday, May 9), Ms Justice Steyn was asked to decide several preliminary aspects of the case, including the “natural and ordinary” meanings of the posts and whether they were statements of fact or opinion.

Mr Vine’s lawyers claim the posts contained “clear references to (Mr Vine) having a sexual interest in children” and caused him to be subjected to “pedophile slurs”. Meanwhile, Mr Barton’s lawyers said the publications would “clearly not lead” people to believe Mr Vine was “a pedophile”.

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Gervase de Wilde, representing the BBC Radio 2 presenter, said: “Mr Barton had many options to engage in abusing Mr Vine but chose the one toxic word to do so, which is pedophile. It has moved into common, current usage and its meaning would be well understood by the average social media user.”

He continued: “There is an irreducible, defamatory meaning to the word nonce, however it is used. That means pedophile or child abuser.”

Mr de Wilde told the court the abuse began following Mr Barton’s comments about women involved in football, particularly in the media, from late 2023. Following a social media post in which Mr Barton compared female pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward with serial killers. Fred and Rose West, Mr Vine questioned the observations and whether Mr Barton had a brain injury, Mr de Wilde said.

This prompted Mr Barton to launch a “calculated and sustained attack on Mr Vine” on January 6, including repeating allegations that Mr Vine supported the administration of covid-19 vaccinations by force. Mr Barton published several posts in the following days to his 2.8 million followers, including labeling Mr Vine a “bike nonce”, “paedo defender” and “nonce”, and associated with pedophiles, including Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Jeffrey Epstein. , the court said.

Mr de Wilde said Mr Barton then started using “#bikenonce” on X, which caused it to trend on the platform. In written submissions, Mr de Wilde claimed Mr Barton’s “ongoing attacks” on Mr Vine were “on a very significant scale”, with some posts seen by more than 2.5 million people.

Barton’s career saw him play for the likes of Manchester City, Newcastle United and French side Marseille before managing Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers. He did not attend Thursday’s hearing in London.

His lawyer, William McCormick KC, said the posts contained “vulgar abuse” but did not defame Mr Vine. He said: “This is a classic example of someone posting something they don’t like from Mr Vine in the heat of the moment and it would have been seen as such.

“Nobody would take that literally. It’s a classic statement where someone would say it’s just abuse, they don’t really mean it.”

Discussing a post published on January 8 which said Mr Vine was “aka Bike Nonce”, Mr McCormick said in written remarks: “Obviously the post would not be taken as an allegation that Mr Vine is a pedophile.

“No one would consider that this is what Mr Barton intended to convey by giving Mr Vine the supposed moniker ‘bike nonce’. Regardless of whether there is any connection between “nonce” and “pedophile”, the context in which “nonce” is used here strips it of such a meaning.

“‘Nonce’ is used as part of ‘aka Bike Nonce’, which is an obvious attempt at humorous abuse of Mr Vine, based in part on his cycling activities, which would be known to all reasonable readers.” Mrs Justice Steyn will give her decision in writing at a later date.