A suspended Reform UK councillor who wrote on Facebook that Nigerians should be “melted down” and used to fill potholes has been convicted of a malicious communication after a court rejected his claim that the post was a “tongue-in-cheek” joke.
Glenn Gibbins, 66, a Sunderland city councillor, denied breaching the Communications Act by posting a grossly offensive message in March 2024, two years before he was elected. Following a trial at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Zoe Passfield convicted him. Sentencing is due later, and he has been told he will not be jailed. His legal team will appeal the verdict at the crown court.
The post read: “Carnt believe the amount of nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!”
The message came to light when the group Hope Not Hate reviewed his social media posts after Gibbins was announced as a Reform UK candidate for Sunderland City Council. Police were informed after he was successfully voted in. Reform UK suspended him once the post emerged.
Prosecutor Emma Dowling said the comment about melting people down “conjures up despicable images” and implied that Nigerians were “somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity.”
Gibbins, a divorced former salesman who runs a stall in Sunderland city center printing novelty gifts, told the court: “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 center and recalled that on the day he made the post, some Nigerians had approached him about buying some of his printing equipment. Gibbins said he had “banter” with the Nigerians at his stall and that the conversation was good fun. That night, after “a couple of cans of beer,” he said he saw a post on Facebook about Nigerians that he tried to share without success, so he typed it out himself and posted it to his public Facebook profile.
When Dowling asked him what reaction he intended to cause, he said: “It was tongue-in-cheek, a bit naughty, but I thought it was fun.”
Gibbins said he was not particularly political. Reform UK approached him about becoming a councillor in March this year, and he considered it would be a source of income “to tide me over” when business was quieter in the summer. He also said he enjoyed helping residents during the brief period when he was not suspended.
Defending, Adam King said the post was “unfunny” and “an unpleasant joke/non-joke.” He said professional comedians such as Jo Brand had joked about throwing acid on Nigel Farage and Jimmy Carr about Gypsies in the Holocaust, and they had not been prosecuted.
Giving her verdict, Judge Passfield said Gibbins now accepted that his post was offensive, but not grossly so, and maintained it was a joke. She said he had no previous convictions, had not offended since the post more than two years ago, and that she had read character witnesses in his support.
She 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.”
The judge said she had considered Gibbins’ right to free expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but decided the post was not a genuine expression of political views.