Queens Park Rangers' Joey Barton has made a reputation for himself as being outspoken on Twitter

Twitter comments by Queens Park Rangers footballer Joey Barton about Chelsea’s John Terry are not serious enough to warrant prosecution for contempt, the government’s top law officer has said.

Attorney general Dominic Grieve has defended his decision not to prosecute Barton for a series of online posts ahead of Terry going on trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, a team-mate of Barton’s at QPR.

Barton made his remarks on Friday after Terry was stripped of the England captaincy.

Mr Grieve said comments made “in bad taste” on Twitter were “neither here nor there” and would be judged only on whether they would prejudice a fair hearing.

“As far as I could see, in this particular case, whatever Mr Barton had been doing didn’t seem to me, on the facts, to amount to creating the risk we have just been talking about,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“I think it is a matter of common sense. If people put out into the public domain by publishing or by broadcasting material that might influence or prejudice the course of a trial by putting background material out that is prejudicial and irrelevant to the trial process then that has the capacity to create the risk.

“Mere invective or unpleasantness doesn’t necessarily meet that test, though in some circumstances it could.”

After airing his views about Terry on Twitter, Barton added: “I’ll probably get a letter now from ‘the powers that be’.”

He later returned to Twitter and defended his comments on the grounds of free speech.

Terry, who was removed from his role as England captain on Friday, denies the allegation against him and will stand trial in July, only days after the Euro 2012 tournament finishes