Suspended Reform UK councillor convicted over Facebook post about Nigerians

Glenn Gibbins, 66, a suspended Reform UK councillor, has been found guilty of sending a malicious communication over a Facebook post in which he said Nigerians should be melted down and used to fill potholes. The verdict was delivered at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court. On Monday, November 9, 2026, Gibbins told the court the post was “naughty” but insisted he had not meant it literally. The post surfaced when Hope Not Hate examined his social media activity after he was named as a Reform UK candidate for Sunderland City Council. Police were alerted after he won his seat. The Facebook post read: “Can't believe the amount of Nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the potholes." Prosecutor Emma Dowling said: “The comment about melting them down conjures up despicable images.” She argued that it suggested Nigerians were “somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity”. Gibbins, a divorced former salesman who operates a stall in Sunderland city centre selling printed novelty gifts, said: “I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek joke. It was an unreal scenario. No one took it literally.” He described setting up his business in the Bridges shopping centre and recalled that on the day of the post some Nigerians had asked him about buying printing equipment. He said he had “banter” with them and that the exchange was good fun. That evening, after “a couple of cans of beer”, he saw a Facebook post about Nigerians. According to his account, he tried to share it but could not, so he typed the message himself and posted it to his public profile. Asked by Ms Dowling what response he intended, Gibbins said: “It was tongue-in-cheek, a bit naughty, but I thought it was fun." Regarding the earlier encounter, he said: “They had done my head in, in a funny way, not a bad way.” When asked what was humorous about the post, he replied: “It’s an unreal scenario: you cannot melt people down. Anyone that takes that literally… you cannot do that." He added: “I wouldn’t dream of joking about killing people.” Gibbins said he was not especially political. He told the court that when Reform UK approached him in March this year about becoming a councillor, he thought it would provide income “to tide me over” during quieter summer months. He also said he had enjoyed assisting residents during the short time before his suspension. In her summary of the prosecution case, Ms Dowling said the post was grossly offensive and had been shared “for no reason whatsoever other than to offend and humiliate people from Nigeria who live in Sunderland”. Defence lawyer Adam King called the post “unfunny” and “an unpleasant joke/non-joke”. He said that even if the judge found it grossly offensive, she had to be certain that Gibbins intended it to be so and that it could be understood that way. Judge Zoe Passfield, delivering the guilty verdict, said she had weighed Gibbins’ right to free expression under the European Convention on Human Rights but concluded the post was not a genuine expression of political views. She sentenced him to a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work. Gibbins’ legal team said he intended to appeal to the Crown Court later.