Suspended Reform councillor found guilty over post

A suspended Reform UK councillor has been convicted of a malicious communication over a Facebook post about Nigerian people.

Sunderland City councillor Glenn Gibbins denied breaching the Communications Act by posting a grossly offensive message on Facebook in March 2024.

The post came to light after the 66-year-old was elected to represent the Hylton Castle ward in May 2026.

Convicting him after a trial at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, District Judge Zoe Passfield said: "The post was nothing more and nothing less than a grossly offensive comment about members of the Nigerian community in Sunderland and Mr Gibbins' views as to their status, or otherwise, as human beings."

He will be sentenced later on Monday and has been told he will not be jailed.

His legal team will appeal against the verdict.

Gibbins' post said: "Carnt believe the amount of nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!! [sic]"

Police were informed about the post after Gibbins was successfully voted in during local elections.

Prosecutor Emma Dowling said the comment about melting Nigerians down implied they were "somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity".

Gibbins, a divorced former salesman who runs a stall in Sunderland city centre which prints novelty gifts, told the court it was a tongue-in-cheek joke.

"It was an unreal scenario," he said. "No-one took it literally."

Gibbins recalled on the day he made the post, some Nigerians had approached him about buying some of his printing equipment.

He said he had "banter" with them at his stall and the conversation had been good fun.

That night, after "a couple of cans of beer", he said he saw a post on Facebook about Nigerians which he tried to share without success, so he typed it out and posted it to his public Facebook profile.

When Dowling asked him what reaction he intended, Gibbins said: "It was tongue-in-cheek, a bit naughty, but I thought it was fun."

Asked by Dowling what was funny about the post, Gibbins replied: "It's an unreal scenario, you cannot melt people down, anyone that takes that literally... you cannot do that."

He said: "I wouldn't dream of joking about killing people."

Passfield said Gibbins, who has no previous convictions, accepted his post was offensive, but not grossly so, and maintained it was a joke.

She said the post was targeted at a specific ethnic minority and that they could be "eradicated" and turned into inanimate substances and used to fill potholes.

Passfield said she did not believe the case would have gone to court had he confined his observation to the number of Nigerians living in Sunderland, even if that were a racist held view.

But he went on to reduce them to the status of Tarmac, she said.

His comments were not politically motivated, she added, as there was no wider context about immigration.

The district judge said she had considered Gibbins' right to free expression as per Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but decided the post was not a genuine expression of political views.