Police issue a statement with former footballer and manager Joey Barton arrested after an altercation near a golf club in Merseyside.
Emergency services were called to the scene in Huyton at 9pm on Sunday and Merseyside Police officers found a man with injuries to his face and ribs. The male was taken to hospital for further treatment. The victim’s condition is thought to be serious but stable.
Officers have since arrested two men – aged 50 and 43 – on suspicion of section 18 wounding, with sources telling Liverpool Echo that the younger of the two men is Joey Barton.
He and 50-year-old Gary O’Grady are jointly charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent on 51 year old former non league manager Kevin Lynch, 51.
Barton has been denied bail at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court, while O’Grady’s released on the condition that he doesn’t enter the golf club or contact either the alleged victim or a named witness.
Chelsea Kearns, prosecuting, said to the court that Lynch was being treated in hospital and may suffer “irreversible” injuries. with the possibility of “losing sight in one eye”..
BBC News report that court heard both Barton and O’Grady, from Seel Road, Huyton, “vehemently deny” the charge, with Barton visibly not reacting as he was remanded in custody by District Judge James Hatton.
Neither defendant was asked to enter a plea. Both men will appear at Liverpool Crown Court on the 7th of April for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
Merseyside Police had put up a cordon on Sunday night, dropped it, then re-erected it, with officers staying at the scene on Monday night and into Tuesday morning, meaning police have been in the area for nearly three days.
🚨BREAKING
đź‘®Joey Barton one of two men arrested on suspicion of wounding following an altercation at a golf club in Merseyside
✒️ https://t.co/wf0abGgzHV— Mike Keegan (@MikeKeegan_DM) March 10, 2026
Credit – Merseyside Police / Liverpool Echo
Merseyside Police said: “We can confirm that two people have been arrested following reports of an assault in Huyton on Sunday 8 March. At around 9pm, emergency services were called to Fairway to reports of a man having been assaulted near to Huyton and Prescot Golf Club.
“The victim was taken to hospital for assessment of injuries to his face and ribs. A 50-year-old man and a 43-year-old man have both been arrested on suspicion of s18 wounding.
“They are both currently in custody where they will be questioned by detectives. Enquiries are ongoing into the incident.”
“Anyone with information should contact Merseyside Police social media desk via X or Facebook @MerPolCC. You can also report information via our website: https://www.merseyside.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/Â or by calling 101 quoting incident reference 26000188781.
“Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously“
Police remain in Huyton this morning following an assault. The victim was taken to the hospital to be assessed for his injuries. Two men have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/pAU0S5FjtF
— Mersey Focus (@focus_mersey) March 10, 2026
One woman, a neighbour in the area, told Liverpool Echo, said: “There was just a man on in the road. He was in floor with blood on him. We didn’t know if he had fallen or if he’d been attacked. We just rang an ambulance and then we saw the blue lights arrive.
“When my partner went to work yesterday morning they had took the cordon down and they were washing the pavement.
“That’s why there’s sand all over the pavement from where they washed it. Then they came back around 8 o’clock last night.”
Another said that his wife walked their dog down Fairway on Sunday night where she saw a “pool of blood” on the road.
Also taking place are fingertip searches, with a sniffer dog at the scene, as is a Matrix van. Police officers have searched a garden, the roof of a building.
As per Liverpool Echo’s live blog on this: “It’s understood one line of enquiry being looked into by detectives is that a disagreement began in the golf club before they made their way down to Fairway.
“Huyton and Prescot Golf Club declined to comment on the incident.”
In an update, a statement from Merseyside Police said: “Detectives have now charged the following men with Section 18 wounding with intent:
“Joseph Anthony Barton, 43, of Fox Bank Close, Widnes. Gary O’Grady, 50, of Seel Road, Huyton.
“Both men remain in custody to appear at Wirral Magistrates Court this afternoon, Tuesday March, 10.”
In November 2025, Joey Barton was found guilty of six charges in ‘offensive tweets’ trial. He denied 12 counts of sending grossly offensive electronic communications with intent to cause distress/anxiety (under the Malicious Communications Act).
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court however found that Barton had crossed the line between free speech and a crime with six posts that he published on X.
He was cleared of six other counts that he sent a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety between January and March 2024.
Barton claimed the posts were “dark humour,” “crude banter,” or provocative commentary, denied implying Vine was a paedophile, and called the case a “political prosecution.”
He was cleared on a mock apology post likening Aluko to Stalin or Pol Pot for “murdering” fans’ ears.
At Liverpool Crown Court on Monday (8th December), the judge told Barton that if any other offence is committed in the next 18 months, Barton will be brought back into court.
He had to complete rehabilitation work and 200 hours of unpaid work in the community, and also have to pay legal costs of just over ÂŁ23,000.
On March 10th 2026, Eni Aluko has been awarded more than ÂŁ300,000 in damages and legal costs after she successfully sued Joey Barton for libel over defamatory posts he made about her on X in 2024.
Joey Barton has been ordered to pay ÂŁ339,000 (first ÂŁ100,000 plus interest due by March 24, 2026), after he admitted the publications amounted to harassment and should not have been made.
Barton wasn’t in attendance for the hearing, due to being in custody having been arrested and charge for assault.
Aluko, who attended court, said that she was glad it was over. Barton has a week to request changes to the order. See more HERE.
Joey Barton speaks on being given suspended jail sentence for posts about Vine, Ward and Aluko
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