Former footballer Joey Barton has been given a 12-week suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of assaulting his wife at their home in south-west London in June 2021.
The 42-year-old pushed Georgia Barton to the floor and kicked her in the head during a drunken argument, leaving her with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. Two other couples were present, and friends intervened to pull Barton away.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring rejected Barton's account of events as 'vague' and convicted him of assault by beating following a two-day trial. The trial had been delayed after Georgia Barton initially retracted her allegations, but the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed to have the case heard.
During a 999 call played in court, a tearful Mrs Barton told the operator: 'Me husband's just hit me in the house.' She later told police she had been 'pushed down and kicked about'. Barton denied any physical altercation, claiming the argument was only verbal.
The couple remain married and living together. Barton was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.
