A suspended Reform UK councillor has been given a community order after being convicted of sending a grossly offensive message about Nigerian people on Facebook.
Glenn Gibbins, who represents Hylton Castle on Sunderland City Council, was sentenced at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court to a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work.
His March 2024 post suggested Nigerians should be ‘melted down’ to fill potholes. It emerged after he was elected in May 2026, and Reform suspended him.
Gibbins, who has no previous convictions, said the post was a tongue-in-cheek joke and that no one took it literally.
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.’
She said it was not politically motivated and not a genuine expression of political views, having considered his Article 10 free expression rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
His legal team said he intends to appeal to the crown court.
