Joey Barton will not face any legal action over
observations he made about the
John Terry racism case on Twitter.
In the immediate aftermath of Terry being stripped of the England
captaincy by the FA on Friday, Barton made a succession of robust
comments on the social networking site.
Although Barton defended them on the grounds of free speech,
others felt he was dangerously close to being in contempt of
court, something that has yet to be applied to comments made on
Twitter.
However, the Attorney General's office have today confirmed the
QPR midfielder is in the clear, while warning of the dangers of
committing contempt in the Terry case, which is due before
Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 9.
Terry has always denied racially abusing QPR defender
Anton Ferdinand.
A statement released by the Attorney General's office read:
"Between February 3-5, Twitter exchanges on Joey Barton's page
which related to the forthcoming trial of John Terry were brought
to the attention of the Attorney General's office.
"They have been considered in relation to any possible contempt
of court they could create. In this instance the Attorney has
decided no action is necessary."
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: "Although in
this instance no action will be taken, we would like to remind
those who publish material that proceedings for the John Terry
trial are active.
"Any discussion of a live court case has the potential to
interfere with its proper course."
