Former footballer Joey Barton, known for his legal troubles, received a 6-month suspended prison sentence for offensive posts on social media.

Joey Barton, a former footballer aged 43, was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court for sending extremely offensive messages, intending to cause suffering or anxiety. The trial revealed that Barton crossed the line between freedom of expression and crime, through six posts on the X platform, in which he compared commentators Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot.