Joey Barton has revealed he has been visited by police three times in the last four days and hit out at ‘attempts to intimidate me and my family’ – before comparing the UK to North Korea.
The former Manchester City and Newcastle footballer has come under fire this year for his vile tweets about women working in men’s football, infamously claiming female pundits ‘shouldn’t be talking with any authority’ in the sport.
His tirades at women online have also seen him compare pundit Eni Aluko and broadcaster Lucy Ward to notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West, while he claimed that he would score 100 out of 100 penalties against England goalkeeper Mary Earps.
Last month he enraged fans after aiming abuse at a 17-year-old Patrick Thistle goalkeeper Ava Easdon following the youngster’s performance between the sticks in the Sky Sports Cup final and asked ‘how is this nonsense on the box’.
Now Barton has revealed some of his tweets have resulted in multiple police visits at his home this week, with officer asking him for a voluntary interview.
Joey Barton has claimed he has been visited by police at his home four times in three days
He slammed attempts to ‘intimidate me and my family’. Pictured: Wife George McNeil and children Cassius, Etienne, Pieta and Penn
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He said the visits occured while his children were asleep and slammed any attempts to ‘intimidate’ his family, saying the methods were akin to something in North Korea.
Barton married his childhood sweetheart Georgia McNeil in 2019. The pair have four children together – Cassius, born in 2011, Pieta, born in 2014, Penn, born in 2018 and Etienne, born in 2022.
‘I’ve been visited 4 times in 3 days by Cheshire Police. Asking for a Voluntary interview about something I’ve tweeted,’ he said on X.
‘Including a couple of women police officers knocking at 9.30pm last night when my kids were in bed. I’ve given them my solicitors information and number. He then called to arrange an interview. No answer, so he left a voice message for the Sergeant who’d visited on the 1st occasion.
‘The last two women didn’t know there had been 3 visits in 3 days, apparently! Either it’s a shambles or an attempt to intimidate me and my family. Welcome to North Korea.’