Ex-England footballer Joey Barton was found guilty of sending six grossly offensive messages on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.
The ex-Manchester City, QPR and Newcastle midfielder was cleared of six similar charges by a jury at Liverpool crown court.
Barton, who was wearing a Union Jack-style scarf in the dock, was impassive as the jury returned its verdicts after two and a half hours deliberation.
He will be sentenced on December 8 after preparation of a pre-sentence report and was warned by trial judge Andrew Menary that all sentencing options remained open.
He was found guilty on two counts of sending grossly offensive communications to female football commentators Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward and not guilty on three counts relating to them.
Joey Barton has been found guilty of six counts of sending a grossly offensive communication
Barton, 43, was on trial accused of 12 counts of posting ‘grossly offensive’ tweets about women football commentators Lucy Ward (right) and Eni Aluko and also broadcaster Jeremy Vine (left)
He was found guilty on four counts of sending grossly offensive messages to broadcaster Jeremy Vine and not guilty on three counts relating to him.
The judge also said: ‘He has chosen to adorn himself with a particular flag which I suppose is a stunt to make a point. He will not be permitted to wear it when you come back to court.’
Barton was granted bail on condition that he did not contact or talk about the three complainants.
The trial had heard that Barton, 43, had targeted TV football commentators Aluko and Ward and broadcaster Vine with the messages which were designed at causing anxiety and distress.
Prosecutor Peter Wright, KC, said that Barton had previous convictions and that the sentence hearing would be heard with victim impact statements from the complainants.
He also said the prosecution would be inviting the judge to consider whether the offences concerning Aluko were racially motivated.
Barton was found not guilty of comparing Ward and Aluko to Fred and Rose West but guilty of superimposing the killers’ faces on to the two women on a Twitter feed.
He was found guilty of calling Jeremy Vine a ‘big bike nonce’ in a tweet linking him with Rolf Harris and Phillip Schofield.
Barton was told he will not be able to wear a Union Jack-coloured scarf to his sentencing
The judge has been invited to consider whether the offences concerning Eni Aluko were racially motivated
He was also found guilty of taunting Vine by saying: ‘Have you been on Epstein island ?’ But he was cleared of tweets with the hashtag ‘down with bike nonce’.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Callum Bryce of CPS Mersey-Cheshire said: ‘Between early January and mid-March 2024, Mr Barton subjected three public figures to offences of malicious communications.
‘Mr Barton said in his evidence before the court that in some of his messages he was trying to make a serious point in a provocative way and that in others he was simply joking.
‘The finding of the jury confirmed that his conduct had gone beyond any joke and his messages were grossly offensive with the purpose of causing anxiety and distress to his victims.’
