Former Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton has been behind bars since March but that hasn’t stopped him from causing issues while in prison.
Barton is alleged to have assaulted a former non-league manager and founder of a special education school, Kevin Lynch. The incident took place near a golf club in Huyton, Merseyside, where the pair are said to have been drinking before Lynch was left with serious injuries to his eye requiring hospital treatment.
The 44-year-old disgraced former footballer pleaded not guilty to the offence and was due to stand trial in September only for a judge to remand him in custody and refuse his bail. He’s now set to remain in jail until 2027, but his reported behaviour could lead to his time being extended.
Joey Barton Allegedly Found With Contraband in Cell
Barton instantly caused issues at HMP Liverpool, where he’s been imprisoned as The Daily Mail reports that upon arriving at the jail he was reported by staff. The Englishman reportedly made Islamophobic comments while waiting in the reception unit but this isn’t the only trouble he’s got up to.
A search of his cell conducted just last week is said to have taken place and anti-corruption prison staff found a smuggled mobile phone and tobacco. He’s already been endurin what inspectors describe as ‘the worst living conditions they have ever seen’, but if he is guilty of bringing in contraband, he risks extending his stay.
A source told The Sun that while acting on intelligence that the prison staff found a few items along with tobacco and a phone. They ‘could discipline Barton’ although he is denying any wrongdoing but doesn’t want to tell on his inmates.
It’s said that bosses are “looking at whether he was forced into holding contraband for other people’ and that’s because there’s a possibility ‘heavy-duty figures’ may have ‘strong-armed him.’ Because of his celebrity status, he becomes a target while imprisoned and he’s already experiencing problems with other prisoners.
Barton is benefitting from coming from Huyton, so he is deemed a local, but his connection to Manchester City and being rich is fuelling bust-ups. A prison source claims that he gets “a lot of abuse” and a lot of it is football-related but he isn’t easily intimiated.
The source added that Barton has stood up to some “quite serious criminals” and he’s got a crew of others on remand who have his back. He’s deemed a resilient individual despite the lavish life he’d been living before being put behind bars.
Why Barton Could Serve More Time
Despite Barton’s willingness to stand up to seemingly dangerous inmates, he could be prosecuted for the contraband found in his cell. A Prison Service spokesman has said that banned items can lead to prosecution, with prisoners “facing extra time behind bars and losing privileges.”
Not only could that mean he spends more time in HMP Liverpool, but he also loses rights to watch TV, access to gyms and workshops. He also could lose the right to time outside of his cell and that will be a real problem for the former Newcastle United midfielder as he often spends time either keeping fit or in a library.
A prison source told the aforementioned outlet: : “HMP Liverpool is one of the worst prisons to be in for remand prisoners. It is a violent place, with loads of drugs and inmates with mental health problems. If you are on remand, like Barton, you are not a priority.”
This isn’t Barton’s first time in jail or in trouble with the authorities, as in 2008 he served a four-month suspended sentence after assaulting former City teammate Ousmane Dabo. In that same year, he spent 77 days of a six-month sentence in prison for a Liverpool City Centre assault and back in 2025 he was handed a suspended term for grossly offensive social media posts targeting Jeremy Vine, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward.
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