“He slapped his wife on the head.”

The controversial ex-footballer Joe Barton He pushed his wife to the ground before being kicked in a head in a drunk row in the summer of 2021 at their family home, the court heard. Georgia Barton was left with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose after the attack. Friends were forced to intervene in the dispute between the couple, who had to separate Barton from his wife, according to prosecutors.

The argument began after Barton threatened to attack his wife’s brother and father, Westminster’s magistrates were heard in court. “There was a disagreement with the word about a family issue,” said prosecutor Helena Duong, who appeared in court wearing a dark coat, dark sweater, jeans and glass, “he held her, pushed her into the Land and hit him. When a friend tried to intervene, Barton “threw him away” and told him “don’t respect me,” hearing the trial.

Georgia Barton called the police after 11pm to “report that her husband had hit her”, at an earlier hearing. Both drink “four or five bottles of wine.” In the 999 calls, played in court, a tearful Mrs. Barton told the call operator: “My husband just hit me at home. He’s inside, I’m out.” When asked if something had happened before, he said: “No, this is the first time,” added that he was hit “in the face.”

Barton must have faced the court in 2022, but the case was postponed after Ms. Barton sent a letter to prosecutors to recover her allegations. A judge then ordered to suspend the proceedings. Public Prosecutions director Stephen Parkinson appealed to the high court decision in London, and lawyers argued at a hearing that a fair trial could be carried out. In a decision in June, two senior judges decided in favor of persecution and said Barton should face a trial in the allegations in front of another judge.

Barton’s career and life were marked with many controversial incidents.