A 66-year-old former UK councillor, Glenn Gibbins, has been convicted by a British court over a controversial Facebook post in which he suggested that Nigerians should be melted down and used to fill potholes.
Gibbins, a former Reform UK councillor in Sunderland, was found guilty of making grossly offensive comments about the city’s Nigerian community following a three-hour trial at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.
He was sentenced by District Judge Zoe Passfield to a 12-month community order, including 150 hours of unpaid work.
The controversial post, which was published on his public Facebook page in March 2024, read: “Can’t believe the amount of Nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the potholes!!”
Gibbins admitted that the comment was offensive but insisted that it was not grossly offensive, describing it as a tongue-in-cheek joke that nobody could reasonably take literally.
The post resurfaced after anti-racism group Hope Not Hate reviewed his social media activities when he was announced as a Reform UK candidate for Sunderland City Council.
Authorities were alerted after his election in May, while Reform UK suspended him over the controversy.
During the trial, prosecuting counsel Emma Dowling argued that the suggestion of melting Nigerians down was deeply dehumanising and portrayed members of the community as less than human.
She told the court that the remark was intended to offend and humiliate Nigerians living in Sunderland.
A Nigerian community leader in the city, Godwin Ejeh, also testified that he led a protest outside City Hall on the day Gibbins was expected to be sworn in as a councillor, hoping to secure an apology.
However, Gibbins had already been suspended and did not attend the ceremony.
Ejeh, who contested the council election on the platform of the Liberal Democrats, denied that the protest was politically motivated, insisting that the matter went beyond politics and concerned basic humanity.
Defending himself, Gibbins claimed that he had exchanged friendly banter with some Nigerians who approached his printing business at the Bridges shopping centre to discuss buying some equipment.
He said he later saw a Facebook post about Nigerians after drinking a couple of cans of beer and decided to type and publish his own comment when he could not share the original post.
Asked about his intention, he described the remark as naughty and intended for fun, insisting that nobody could actually melt human beings.
His defence counsel, Adam King, described the post as an unpleasant and unfunny joke, while arguing that other public figures and comedians had made controversial jokes without facing criminal prosecution.
However, the court ruled that Gibbins’ remarks crossed the threshold of grossly offensive conduct.
Reacting to the conviction, Christopher Atkinson of the Crown Prosecution Service in the North East warned that racially charged comments on social media could cross the line between free speech and criminal behaviour.
He said such remarks could be particularly upsetting and dehumanising to affected communities, warning that people who publish similar material could face prosecution.
