Joey Barton has apologised for his actions and admitted that the allegations were untrue

Credit: Jeff Gilbert

Joey Barton has agreed to pay Jeremy Vine £75,000 after calling him a paedophile on social media.

Mr Vine,the radio and TV presenter,sued Mr Barton,a former footballer,for libel and harassment over 14 posts,including one in which he called Mr Vine a “big bike nonce” and a “pedo defender”. 

Last month,a High Court judge ruled that 11 of the posts defamed Mr Vine.

Mr Barton has now apologised for his actions,admitted that the allegations were untrue and agreed to pay damages and Mr Vine’s legal costs,according to a post on social media.

He wrote on X,formerly Twitter,on Tuesday: “Between Jan 8 and 12 2024,I published 11 posts which accused Jeremy Vine of having a sexual interest in children,and created a hashtag which  made the same allegations,which were viewed millions of times.

“I recognise that this is a very serious allegation. It is untrue. I do not believe that Mr Vine has a sexual interest in children,and I wish to set the record straight.”

‘I apologise to him for distress’

He added: “I also published posts during the same period in which I referred to Mr Vine having advocated forced vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic,based upon a video clip of his TV programme.

“I accept that he did not advocate this policy and that the video clip has been edited to give a misleading impression of what he was in fact saying. I then taunted and abused Mr Vine for bringing a legal complaint against me.

“I have agreed not to make the same allegations again about Mr Vine,and I apologise to him for the distress he has suffered. 

“To resolve his claims against me in defamation and harassment,I have agreed to pay Mr Vine £75,000 in damages and his legal costs.”

‘Calculated and sustained attack’

Gervase de Wilde,Mr Vine’s barrister,told the hearing in London on May 9 that the abuse began after Mr Barton’s comments on women in football,particularly in the media,from the end of last year.

Following a social media post in which he compared female pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West,Mr Vine questioned the remarks and asked whether Mr Barton had a brain injury.

This led to Mr Barton launching a “calculated and sustained attack on Mr Vine” in early January this year,said Mr de Wilde. The former footballer published several posts over the following days to his 2.8 million followers and began using “bike nonce” on X,which led to it trending on the platform,the court was told.

Mr de Wilde said that the posts contained “clear references to [Mr Vine] having a sexual interest in children” and that the word “nonce” had “an irreducible,defamatory meaning”.

Mr Barton and Mr Vine were contacted for comment.