UK Reform councillor convicted after calling for Nigerians to be melted

News

By Linda Ikeji
10 November 2026, 9:26 pm

A suspended Reform UK councillor has been convicted after posting on social media that Nigerians must be melted down and used to fill potholes.

Glenn Gibbins, 66, was discovered responsible at South Tyneside magistrates’ courtroom of a malicious communication after making the put up on Facebook.

He advised the courtroom on Monday, November 9, 2026 that it was “naughty”, however he didn’t imply it actually.

The put up got here to mild when the group Hope Not Hate went by his social media posts when Gibbins was introduced as a Reform UK candidate for Sunderland metropolis council.

Police had been knowledgeable after he was efficiently voted in.

He posted: “Can’t believe the amount of Nigerians in town…should melt them all down and fill in the potholes.”

Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said: “The comment about melting them down conjures up despicable images.”

She stated it implied that Nigerians had been “somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity”.

Gibbins, a divorced former salesman who runs a stall in Sunderland metropolis centre printing novelty presents, advised the courtroom: “I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek joke.

“It was an unreal scenario. No one took it literally.”

He defined how he had arrange his enterprise within the Bridges procuring centre and recalled on the day he made the put up that some Nigerians had approached him about shopping for a few of his printing gear.

Gibbins recalled he had “banter” with the Nigerians at his stall and that the dialog was good enjoyable.

That evening, after “a couple of cans of beer”, he stated he noticed a put up on Facebook about Nigerians which he tried to share with out success, so he typed it out himself and posted it to his public Facebook profile.

When Ms Dowling requested him what response he meant to trigger, he stated: “It was tongue-in-cheek, a bit naughty, but I thought it was fun.”

Speaking of the earlier interaction with the Nigerians at his stall, he said: “They had done my head in, in a funny way, not a bad way.”

When she requested what was humorous concerning the put up, Gibbins 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.”

He defined he was not notably political and when he was approached by Reform UK about changing into a councillor in March this 12 months, he thought-about it might be a supply of earnings “to tide me over” when enterprise was quieter in the summertime.

He additionally stated he loved serving to residents within the temporary interval when he was not suspended.

Ms Dowling, summarising the prosecution case, stated the put up was grossly offensive and was shared “for no reason whatsoever other than to offend and humiliate people from Nigeria who live in Sunderland”.

Adam King, defending, stated the put up was “unfunny” and “an unpleasant joke/non-joke”.

He stated that even when the decide thought-about the put up grossly offensive, she had to make sure Gibbins meant it to be and could possibly be taken as such.

Giving her responsible verdict, Judge Zoe Passfield stated she had thought-about Gibbins’ proper to free expression below the European Convention on Human Rights, however determined the put up was not a real expression of political beliefs.

She sentenced him to a 12-month group order with 150 hours of unpaid work.

Gibbins’ authorized staff stated Gibbins meant to enchantment to the Crown Court later.