Football star Joey Barton appears in court over Liverpool assault claim

Dec 28 2007 by Liverpool Daily Post

Joey Barton

PREMIER League footballer Joey Barton was appearing in court today for an alleged attack during a night out in Liverpool.

The Huyton-born star was arrested in Church Street early yesterday morning and spent the day in police cells.

The alleged assault took place near to the junction with Whitechapel – where father-of-two Anthony Clarke was murdered on a night out last month.

CCTV operators monitoring the city centre alerted police after seeing an incident at around 5.30am.

Two men claimed they had been attacked by Barton and officers arrested him and two friends further along Church Street outside a mobile phone shop.

The £6m midfielder, 25, who has one England cap, had been out with friends and family after an ankle injury forced him to miss the Boxing Day game which saw his Newcastle United team-mates beaten 1-0 at Wigan.

He was due to appear at Liverpool City Magistrates Court today under his full name – Joseph Anthony Barton – charged with common assault and affray.

He gave an address in Widnes and was remanded in custody overnight until the court appearance.

One of the alleged victims is thought to have briefly lost consciousness during the scuffle and was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to the Royal hospital.

He was released later in the day.

Officers are now trawling through hours of tape from several cameras around the Church Street area.

A man and woman were also arrested alongside Barton. Andrew Barton, 19, also from Widnes, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray and Nadine Wilson, 27, from Huyton, has been charged with common assault and affray.

They were bailed by police and due to appear alongside Barton at court this morning.

Reportedly on £45,000 a week, Barton is currently on bail for another alleged assault.

He is due to face trial in the New Year over an alleged training ground attack on his former Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo.

He has already appeared in court to plead not guilty to that attack.

A Newcastle United spokesman said: “The club is aware of an incident but until there is more information it would be inappropriate to comment.”