CONTROVERSIAL retired footballer Joey Barton has been visited by Cheshire Police 'four times in three days' over his social media posts.

From his X (formerly Twitter) account with 2.8 million followers, Barton regularly posts content attacking women and trans people in football, as well as commenting on other current affairs topics such as vaccinations.

Today (April 19) he took to the social media platform to suggest the visits were an attempt to 'intimidate' him and his family, comparing the situation to 'North Korea'.

The former Manchester City and England midfielder wrote: “I’ve been visited four times in three days by Cheshire Police. Asking for a voluntary interview about something I’ve tweeted.

“Including a couple of women police officers knocking at 9.30pm last night when my kids were in bed.

“I’ve given them my solicitor's information and number. He then called to arrange an interview. No answer, so he left a voice message for the sergeant who’d visited on the first occasion.

“The last two women didn’t know there had been three visits in three days, apparently! Either it’s a shambles or an attempt to intimidate me and my family.

“Welcome to North Korea.”

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "Following reports of offences under the Communications Act, we can confirm we have made multiple attempts to arrange a voluntary interview with a 41-year-old man from Liverpool.

"To date, we have not had any response from his legal representatives and we await further contact."