Joey Barton has confirmed he is to pay Jeremy Vine a further £35,000 in damages, after also previously being instructed to pay £75,000.
Vine, 58, sued Barton, 41, for libel and harassment over 14 online posts, including where he called Vine a ‘big bike nonce’ and a ‘pedo defender’ on X.
A High Court judge ruled in May that 11 of the posts could defame Vine.
Following the results of the case, Barton, who played for teams including Manchester City, Newcastle United, Rangers, and French side Marseille during his career, has taken to X to issue a further update.
‘I was sued for defamation and harassment by Jeremy Vine over posts published between 8 and 12 January 2024 which falsely accused him of having a sexual interest in children, and which were viewed millions of times,’ wrote Barton.
‘Mr Vine issued proceedings and, after being served with his claim, I published information relating to his home address on my X account, published a crowdfunding appeal which falsely alleged that Mr Vine had published baseless and unwarranted defamatory allegations about me, in an attempt to raise funds from the public, and I harassed Mr Vine, including by referring to him being run over on his bicycle.’
Barton set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his legal fees, which raised over £100,000.
‘My actions led Mr Vine to bring additional claims against me in defamation, harassment, and misuse of private information,’ he continued.
‘I recognise that the allegations I made in the crowdfunding appeal were untrue, and that I infringed Mr Vine’s rights by misusing his private information and harassing him, doing so after he had sought to resolve our dispute through the Court.
‘The original proceedings have been compromised on the basis of the payment of damages and costs.
‘To resolve Mr Vine’s additional claims against me in defamation, harassment, and misuse of private information, I have agreed not to make the same allegations or undertake the same conduct again in relation to Mr Vine, and I apologise to him for the distress he has suffered.
‘I have agreed to pay Mr Vine a further £35,000 in damages and his legal costs.’
Vine stated last month that the previous £75,000 in damages and apology from Barton were not the final outcome of the case.
‘The news of Joey Barton’s apology and commitment to pay damages and costs is not the final outcome of this case,’ he wrote on X.
‘After five defamatory tweets, my lawyer offered Barton a chance to settle: pay £75k, plus my costs, and make an apology.
‘He ignored that offer and posted more disgusting tweets about me, even publishing my home address to his followers.
‘When I then took my case to the High Court, a judge ruled that TEN of the tweets I complained of were defamatory.
‘Having lost, Barton has returned to the offer we made after tweet 5. There has therefore been a parallel action on tweets 6-10 and Barton will pay further damages for these.
‘A number of other steps — including statements made in Court by way of apology — are still to be taken, and Barton has agreed to pay my legal costs of all of the claims.’
Barton also posted an apology in June.
At the hearing, Gervase de Wilde, representing Vine, 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’.
William McCormick KC, for Barton, said at the earlier hearing that the posts contained ‘vulgar abuse’ but did not libel Vine, and represented ‘someone who is posting in the heat of the moment’.
News of Vine’s legal action against Barton first came in January, when Barton posted a photo to X – which was swiftly deleted but seen by Metro.co.uk – that included a photograph of a pre-action letter denoting a claim for defamation and harassment.
The letter warned that the document was confidential and should not be made public in any way, or else it may lead to Vine seeking additional damages.
Barton shared the documents online anyway with a caption that read: ‘So @theJeremyVine is suing me,’ along with a series of crying-laughing emojis and the hashtag ‘#bikenonce.’
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