Barton freed after 74 days in jail

Barton, 25, left Strangeways prison in Manchester at 11am after serving 74 days of a six-month sentence for beating up a teenager in Liverpool city centre last December.

He was jailed on May 20 after pleading guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to assault and affray.

On Monday the £40,000-a-week Newcastle United midfielder enjoyed his first taste of freedom after weeks in the cells.

Barton, wearing jeans and a jumper and carrying a holdall, shook hands with a friend waiting for him outside the prison gates. He made no comment to reporters before getting into a waiting silver Land Rover and being driven off.

Reporters asked the footballer if he had any message for the Newcastle fans, but Barton, flanked by two burly minders, headed straight into the waiting car.

He had hoped to be freed earlier this month with an electronic tag forcing him to keep a curfew. But he was deemed not to fit the right criteria for early release by probation officers, as he is a violent offender and committed his last offence while on bail.

Capped once by England, the player, from Huyton, Merseyside, served 68 days of the six-month jail term plus six days on remand after his initial arrest.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 1991 anyone given a jail sentence of less than 12 months is automatically released after serving half the sentence.

While freed on Monday he is, however, currently serving a four-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after a separate conviction for a "ferocious" training ground attack on former Manchester City colleague Ousmane Dabo, which left his victim unconscious and bleeding.