Joey Barton ‘needs to find different hobby’, says Jeremy Vine after libel settlement hearing

Joey Barton “needs to find himself a different hobby”, Jeremy Vine has said after the former football manager was accused of “undermining” a libel settlement with the broadcaster.

Vine had sued the former footballer from Liverpool for libel and harassment over nine online posts, including where he falsely called the BBC Radio 2 presenter a “big bike nonce” on X, formerly Twitter.

The pair settled the claim after Barton posted two apologies on the same social media platform and paid a total of £110,000 damages to Vine, as well as his legal costs.

At the High Court on Friday, Gervase de Wilde, representing Vine, who was present in court, said in an agreed statement that Barton now recognises that he made a “very serious” and “untrue” allegation.

But Vine’s barrister later referenced a post recently made on X by Barton, where Vine can be seen dancing and walking about an office in a pair of high-heeled shoes.

Mr de Wilde asked a judge to warn Barton about the risk of contempt of court, which can be punished with up to two years in prison.

Alongside the video of Vine, posted approximately six hours before the hearing, Barton posted the caption “Perfectly normal. Nothing to see here” alongside several emojis, including a cyclist and a rainbow.

Speaking outside court, Vine said: “Joey Barton has probably lost himself £450,00 with nine tweets so he needs to find himself a different hobby.”

Mr de Wilde told the hearing that the post “negates the vindication of a statement” being read, adding: “He is undermining the settlement he has reached with Mr Vine and further infringing his rights.”

The barrister said that Barton had made four undertakings, including not to harass Vine or encourage others to do so.

Mr de Wilde said: “The conduct this morning has gone right up to the line and in Mr Vine’s view, it has gone across the line.”

Mrs Justice Steyn said: “It does seem to me in light of the letter from the claimant’s solicitors … that it is sensible to give the warning that Mr Barton would have received if he had given the undertakings in court.

“These are all serious commitments he has given to the court and any breach of them is potentially punishable as a contempt of court.”

In the statement, Mr de Wilde said Vine “was deeply alarmed, distressed and upset by the defendant’s conduct” which included a “persistent and highly damaging campaign of defamation, harassment and misuse of private information”.

Enfys Jenkins, for Barton, said in the statement that the former football player “accepts everything said on the claimant’s behalf”.

She added: “The defendant wishes to apologise for the distress his publications caused.”

Ms Jenkins later said she had not spoken to her client about the recent video post.

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