Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has told a court that being called a “bike nonce” in posts on social media by former footballer Joey Barton left him “completely devastated”.

Ex-Man City player Mr Barton is alleged to have “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with messages he posted on X about the TV and radio presenter, as well as football commentators Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko. Barton, 43, who has 2.7 million followers on the platform, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court and denies 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Mr Vine told the trial the posts left him having “sleepless nights” and feeling “scared and upset”. The court heard Mr Vine replied on 8 January 2024 to a post Mr Barton had made on X that likened Ms Aluko and Ms Ward to the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”, after an FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton.

Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, asked Mr Vine about why he became engaged in the conversation. Vine told the court: “I thought it was very vicious to post their faces over two mass murderers of children. I was looking for an explanation and said about a brain injury as a way of underlining my own feelings that he had crossed a line.”

Simon Csoka KC, defending, said: “Are you genuinely raising concern about Mr Barton having a head injury or are you taking the mick?” Mr Vine responded: “I’m raising it by giving it that level of insight, which is kind of the thing on social media.”

The court also heard Mr Vine was made to “feel physically unsafe” after he claimed Mr Barton had posted a picture of his address online.

He said: “I genuinely believe what Barton did made me physically unsafe. I took some advice about my security. I varied my movements. I didn’t want to communicate the dangers to my daughters.

“Because of this cloud of filth Barton had released I had to explain to them. I can only summarise by saying I believe these messages put me in physical danger.”

Jurors were told in June 2024 Mr Barton agreed to pay Mr Vine £75,000 damages for defamation and harassment, together with his legal costs, as both parties settled in the civil action.

In a further settlement between both parties Mr Barton paid Mr Vine £35,000 damages and legal costs over similar matters.

The court heard Mr Barton also apologised to the broadcaster on his X account in June 2024 in which he said he had made a “very serious allegation” on social media in which he accused Mr Vine of having a sexual interest in children which he said was “untrue”.

Mr Barton later entered the witness box and told the jury he accepted his posts had caused anxiety and distress to “the girls and Jeremy” but that had not been his intention.

He said he watched the January 2024 FA Cup tie – as a “massive Evertonian” – and thought the analysis was “filled with soundbites”.

He said: “It was really, really poor. I thought the coverage had been taken to a new low.”

Asked what he intended to mean with his Fred and Rose West comparison, he said: “They were just murdering the broadcast in my opinion.

“I was trying to make a serious point in a provocative way. It was dark and stupid but it was a joke.

“I was not trying to say they were murderers, child rapists or whatever the Wests were.

“It was a stupid joke.”

The superimposed photograph he later posted was also a joke, he told the jury.

He said: “It was about trying to get the conversation on the table so we could get some quality standards to our profession.

“I have seen it has caused the girls and Jeremy distress… That was never my purpose.”

He said his “bikenonce” references to Mr Vine in various posts were in response to the presenter “trying to goad him” to go on his Channel 5 show to discuss his views about female football pundits.

Mr Barton said: “I was trying to make a joke of it. Dark humour. I didn’t intend to call him a paedophile.

“My understanding of the word ‘bike nonce’ is it is someone who is massively into something…”

“I had followed Jeremy’s many experiences on his daily commute. Bike nonce means someone who likes the bike and the lycra and buys all the gear.”

He told the jury the libel case apology, pinned to his X feed, was part of the requirement of the settlement and were not his words but that of lawyers.

He said: “I was trying to keep costs down and move on with my life. It was taking up far too much time for what was a tiff online.

“I had to sign that to stop it escalating into the millions.”

Mr Barton, from Widnes, Cheshire, denies the alleged offences said to have been committed between January and March last year. As well as Manchester City, Mr Barton also played for Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Burnley and Marseille before he moved into management after his retirement. He was sacked from his most recent role of manager at Bristol Rovers in October 2023 after almost three years in charge.

X was described to me once by a young user as “The Dungeons” and what is said there can be harmful and disgusting. You know that before entering. To think that comments made by Joey Barton about some terrible football pundits have led to this is absurd and another threat to freedom of speech.

Who knew Jeremy Vine was so thin skinned? Daily, he takes the news to task on his morning Channel 5 show. And those in it, he pulls no punches in his questions and statements yet he can’t take being described as a “bikenonce”, which he is. He is also pathetic.