Ex City midfielder Barton charged with assault after wife suffers head injury

Controversial manager Joey Barton has been charged with assault ahead of his appearance in court on Monday (26th July).

The ex–QPR midfielder, now 38 years old, was arrested in his house in Kew, West London, on June 2nd after the event occurred, which allegedly left his wife with head injuries.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said:

“Joseph Barton, of Widnes, Cheshire, is due to appear on bail on Monday, July 26, at Wimbledon magistrates’ court charged with assault by beating.

“The charge relates to an incident which took place at a residential property in Kew on Wednesday, June 2 in which a woman received a head injury. London Ambulance Service did not attend.

“A 38-year-old man was arrested on June 2, bailed pending further enquiries, and subsequently charged.”

A repeating occurrence

It will certainly not be the first time that Barton finds himself in hot water. In 2008, the Englishman was sentenced to six months imprisonment for common assault in Liverpool City centre, for which he served 74 days.

In the same year, Barton was also sentenced to a four-month suspended sentence following a training ground dispute with Ousmane Dabo, in which he admitted to occasional actual bodily harm.

The pair of charges add to the long list of footballing charges that Barton has received, including for headbutting an opposition manager Daniel Stendel after his Fleetwood town lost to Barnsley in 2019, which left Stendel with two lost teeth.

He has also been charged, and banned from football for 18 months, for admitting to an FA betting charge in 2017, which effectively ended his playing career.

Barton will be hoping that he emerges from this trial innocent, having already left destruction in his wake wherever he ends up.