Joey Barton is found GUILTY of six charges over 'offensive tweets' aimed at female football TV pundits comparing them to Fred and Rose West

Ex-England footballer Joey Barton was found guilty of sending six grossly offensive messages on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday. 

The ex-Manchester City, QPR and Newcastle midfielder was cleared of six similar charges by a jury at Liverpool crown court.

Barton, who was wearing a Union Jack style scarf in the dock, was impassive as the jury returned its verdicts after two and a half hours deliberation.

He will be sentenced on December 8 after preparation of a pre-sentence report and was warned by trial judge Andrew Menary that all sentencing options remained open.

The judge also said: 'He has chosen to adorn himself with a particular flag which I suppose is a stunt to make a point. He will not be permitted to wear it when you come back to court.' 

Barton was granted bail on condition that he did not contact or talk about the three complainants.  

The trial had heard that Barton, 43, had targeted women TV football commentators Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward and broadcaster Jeremy Vine with the messages which were designed at causing anxiety and distress.

Prosecutor Peter Wright, KC, said that Barton had previous convictions and that the sentence hearing would be heard with victim impact statements from the complainants.

He also said the prosecution would be inviting the judge to consider whether the offences concerning Eni Aluko were racially motivated.

Barton was found not guilty of comparing Ward and Aluko to Fred and Rose West but guilty of super imposing the killers' faces onto the two women on a Twitter feed.

He was found guilty of calling Jeremy Vine a 'big bike nonce' in a tweet linking him with Rolf Harris and Phillip Schofield.

He was also found guilty of taunting Vine by saying: 'Have you been on Epstein island ?' But he was cleared of tweets with the hashtag 'down with bike nonce.'