Joey Barton has lost a libel case against Jeremy Vine after the ex-footballer called the presenter a ‘bike nonce’ on social media.
Mr Vine had sued for libel and harassment in relation to posts made by Mr Barton on X (formerly Twitter), including ones where he referred to the TV personality as a ‘big bike nonce’ and a ‘pedo defender’.
As per The Daily Mail, High Court judge Mrs Justice Steyn concluded that 11 of the 14 posts could defame Mr Vine.
Mrs Justice Steyn said: “The strong impression gained by the assertion the claimant is known as “aka” bike nonce”, followed immediately by the further assertion that he is known as, again, “aka” “pedo defender”, is that the term “nonce” was being used in its primary meaning to allege the claimant has a sexual interest in children.
“While I do not consider that the hypothetical reader, who would read the post quickly and move on, would infer a causative link, i.e that the claimant defends paedophiles because he shares the same propensity, the juxtaposition of the words “nonce” and “pedo” is striking and would reinforce the impression that the former was used in the sense of ‘paedophile'”.
Before adding: “The reader would have understood that the word “bike” was a meaningless aspect of the accusation, serving only as an indication that this was a label attached to the claimant, who was known as a cyclist, without detracting from the operative word “nonce”.”
The hearing was told by Mr Vine’s barrister, Gervase de Wilde, that abuse had started following comments made by Mr Barton surrounding the involvement of women in football, particularly the media.
Mr Barton had compared female pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West, leading to Mr Vine questioning whether the ex-Newcastle United player had developed a brain injury.
And according to Mr De Wilde, this sparked a ‘calculated and sustained attack on Mr Vine’, which had begun earlier this year.
Mr De Wilde argued that the posts had ‘clear references to [Mr Vine] having a sexual interest in children’ and the term ‘nonce’ carried ‘an irreducible, defamatory meaning’.
William McCormick KC, who was defending Mr Barton didn’t deny the posts carried ‘vulgar abuse’, but he did suggest they instead represented ‘someone who is posting in the heat of the moment’.
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