Joey Barton charged with alleged ‘malicious communications’ towards Aluko

He has hit back at the charges

In response to the charges, the ex-Manchester City midfielder branded the legal system a ‘banana republic’.

The incident in question happened in January of this year when Barton compared Aluko and fellow pundit Lucy Ward to the serial killers Fred and Rose West.

Following Crystal Palace’s FA Cup draw with Everton, Barton criticised Aluko and Ward on X in a barrage of tweets.

In February, Aluko accused Barton of subjecting her to one of the worst cases of social media abuse she’d ever experienced after a stream of vile messages emerged.

Today, Cheshire Police issued a statement which read: “A man from Widnes has been summoned to court to face charges of malicious communications.

“Following an investigation by Cheshire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service has since authorised the charges for Joseph Barton. The 41-year-old will appear at Warrington Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 30 July.

“The charges relate to reports of alleged malicious communications online, between Monday 1 January and Thursday 18 January.”

Barton took to X to slam the charges: “I'm up next month for "malicious communications" charge at Warrington Mag for Eni Aluko tweets.

“Crazy times we're living in. Haven't the Police got enough on their hands?

“British system is becoming a Banana Republic. Lawfare used against its own citizens for having a dissenting voice.”

Aluko has spoken to BBC Breakfast about the abuse she has faced saying: “I can only describe it as waves caving in on you. I think the nature of Joey Barton's tweets were consecutive over the course of a week.

“There were several tweets, he continued to double-down even after ITV came out in mine and Lucy Ward's defence, and actually was deliberately trying to get worse and incite other people to say the same. This is probably one of the worst cases of social media abuse I've ever experienced.”

Barton will appear in court on July 30^th.