Joey Barton 'pushed wife to the ground and kicked her in the head', court told
Former footballer Joey Barton violently attacked his wife in the middle of a drunken row at their family home, a court was told. The 42-year-old former Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder, who denies an assault charge, is accused of pushing Georgia Barton to the ground before kicking her in the head.
The incident is alleged to have occurred in Kew, south-west London in June 2021, when the Bartons had been drinking with two other couples while their children slept upstairs. An argument broke out between the pair after Barton threatened to fight Georgia's brother and father, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.
Prosecutor Helena Duong said: "There had been a verbal disagreement about a family matter." Barton - who appeared in court wearing a dark coat, dark jumper, jeans and glasses - "grabbed [Georgia] and pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the head".
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Friends were forced to intervene, pulling Barton away from his wife, the prosecutor said. As a friend tried to break up the row, Barton allegedly "threw" him off and said "don't disrespect me".
Mrs Barton was left with a lump on on her forehead and a bleeding nose after the alleged assault. She called the police shortly after 11pm to "report she had been hit by her husband", the court heard.
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."
A police officer asked Mrs Barton if she wanted to use an ice pack for the "bump" on her head, the court heard.
Barton was arrested at around midnight in his bedroom, where he had been asleep, and was still drunk, the trial was told. A previous hearing was told the couple had both drunk "four or five bottles of wine".
The former footballer, of Widnes and originally from Huyton, 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 denies a single charge of assault by beating, and the trial continues.