Joey Barton allegedly kicked his wife in the head during a drunken family row and left her with a “golf ball-sized“ lump on her forehead, a court has heard.
The former footballer, 42, has been charged with assault by beating over the incident on June 2, 2021, when he is accused of pushing Georgia Barton to the ground and attacking her.
Westminster magistrates court heard a 999 call from Mrs Barton, which begins with her saying: “Hi, my husband just hit me in the house.“
As the call goes on, Mrs Barton says she is outside the home and her husband is inside, and when asked if he has hit her in the past she replies: “No, this is the first time.“
She can be heard sobbing as she then says to the 999 operator that she was struck “in the face“.
Police were called out to the home in Kew, southwest London, and Mrs Barton repeated the allegation to an officer, PC Daniel Humphrey.
The officer told the court on Friday he saw a “gold ball sized lump which looked swollen to me.
“There were little red dots under the skin“, he added.
The officer said he also saw Mrs Barton wipe her nose when there was blood visible below.
“She said she’d had an argument with her husband, he had somehow taken her to the ground, she said he pushed her and he either punched or kicked her.“
Barton denies assault, and applied for the 999 call and police bodyworn footage to not be used as evidence against him in the trial.
Mrs Barton, who told police at the scene that she had been pushed down and “kicked“ in the head, is not supporting the prosecution.
An earlier court hearing was told Mrs Barton now says she was injured “accidentally“, and she wrote a letter giving a different account of the night.
Simon Csoka QC, representing Barton, told the previous hearing the couple were with four friends on the night, and they had “all had four or five bottles of wine each”.
He argued the 999 call and bodyworn footage would be unfairly deployed against Barton if the prosecution did not also call Mrs Barton as a witness.
A District Judge at Wimbledon magistrates court in 2022 stopped the case against Barton from going ahead, concluding it would be unfair.
But prosecutors successfully appealed that decision, setting up Friday’s trial at Westminster magistrates court in front of Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring.
Judge Goldspring ruled on Friday there would be ”no unfairness” with the 999 call recording and bodyworn footage being used as evidence in the trial.
Prosecutor Helena Duong told the court: “Mr Barton is charged with one count of assault by beating in relation to Georgia Barton, his wife.
“It relates to an incident on June 2, 2021.
“On that evening, shortly after 11pm, Mrs Barton called 999, she reported she had been hit by her husband, and referred to having been just hit.
“It is alleged to have occurred at the home address in London, in Kew. “
The prosecutor said a police officer arrived around 25 minutes later and Mrs Barton “described being in a verbal disagreement about family matters.
“She alleged Mr Barton grabbed her, pushed her to the ground, and kicked her in the head.“
Ms Duong opposed the application to keep the key evidence out of the trial, saying Mrs Barton’s initial accounts were “credible and compelling“.
She added that although Mrs Barton will not be a prosecution witness, she could be called to court to give evidence for the defence.
Judge Goldspring agreed, concluding: ”I’m entirely satisfied Mrs Barton was so emotionally overpowered by events that the possibility of concoction and distortion can be disregarded.”
He added that Barton could call his wife to give evidence, and put forward his own account of that night as well, to counter the allegations made in the recordings.
A police officer who spoke to Mrs Barton the morning after the incident, when she declined to give a statement. The court was also told she said her first account of the incident had been ”over-exaggerated”.
Mr Csoka said Mrs Barton is planning to give evidence in her husband’s defence.
The hearing continues.
