Former footballer Joey Barton is facing legal action from the TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine over 14 online posts, including where he called Mr Vine a 'big bike nonce' and a 'pedo defender' on X, formerly Twitter

Jeremy Vine is alleged to have been labelled a "nonce" in what's being likened to a "calculated and sustained attack" by former footballer Joey Barton, the High Court heard.

Joey Barton finds himself facing legal repercussions from the renowned TV and radio presenter following 14 online posts which slandered Mr Vine, including where he dubbed Mr Vine a "big bike nonce" and a "pedo defender" on X, once known as Twitter.

Vine is making legal claims of libel and harassment against the ex-football player after a digital spat revolving around Joey Barton's disparaging comments about women's participation in men's football.

During a hearing on Thursday, Mrs Justice Steyn was tasked with resolving several initial matters in the case, such as understanding the "natural and ordinary" intentions behind the posts and determining whether they were based on facts or simply shared opinions.

Mr Vine's attorneys maintain that the posts made explicit insinuations about the star developing inappropriate sexual inclinations towards children, further suggesting those remarks led to unjust "paedophilic slurs" against him; on the other hand, legal counsel for Mr Barton retorted by stating it would be implausible for anyone reading those posts to genuinely conceive that Mr Vine might be a paedophile.

Speaking on behalf of Vine, Gervase de Wilde explained: "Mr Barton had many options for engaging in the abuse of Mr Vine but he chose the one toxic word to do so, which means paedophile."

Reiterating the troubling implications of Mr Barton's actions, he added: "It has moved into common, current use and its meaning would be well understood by the ordinary social media user. There is an irreducible, defamatory meaning of the word nonce, however it is used. That does mean paedophile or child molester."

The court heard that the abuse started from the end of 2023, following Mr Barton's remarks about women in football, particularly in the media, which included a social media post where he compared female pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West.

In January 2024, Mr Barton posted several tweets about Vine after they exchanged online posts about a comment Vine had made questioning if Barton should be allowed to continue managing Bristol Rovers.

In these tweets, which were sent to 2.8 million followers, Barton labelled Vine a "bike nonce", a "pedo defender" and "a nonce", and associated him with paedophiles including Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Barton then also used "#bikenonce" on another site, where it began trending.

According to Mr de Wilde's written submissions, Mr Barton's "ongoing attacks" on Vine were "on a very significant scale", with some posts being seen by more than 2.5 million people.

Mr Barton, whose career involved playing for teams including Manchester City, Newcastle United and French side Marseille, was the former manager of Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers. He skipped the court session in London on Thursday.

His lawyer, William McCormick KC, argued that while the social media rants were filled with "vulgar abuse" they didn't amount to defamation against Mr Vine.

McCormick explained: "This is a classic example of someone who is posting in the heat of the moment to something they don't like from Mr Vine, and it would be seen as such.

"No-one would take that literally. It is a classic statement where someone would say that is just abuse, he does not really mean it."

In reference to a specific post from January 8 which referred to Mr Vine as "aka Bike Nonce", McCormick contended in his written brief: "The post would obviously not be taken as making an allegation that Mr Vine is a paedophile."

"Nobody would consider this to be what Mr Barton was intending to convey by giving Mr Vine the supposed alias 'bike nonce'. Regardless of whether there is any link between 'nonce' and 'paedophile', the context in which 'nonce' is used here strips it of any such meaning."

"'Nonce' is simply part of 'aka Bike Nonce', a clear jab at Mr Vine's passion for cycling, and one that any sensible reader would see as nothing more than a bit of crude banter."

Mrs Justice Steyn will deliver her ruling in writing when ready.