Glenn Gibbins argued his posts were not grossly offensive (Picture: Owen Humphreys/Press Association) A suspended Reform candidate who said Nigerians should be melted down to ‘fill in the pot holes’ has been found guilty. Glenn Gibbins was convicted of a malicious communication two years before he was elected as a councillor for Hylton Castle Ward in Sunderland in early May. In now deleted posts, he ranted on social media he ‘carnt [sic] believe amount of Nigerians in town’ and they ‘should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes’.
Gibbins, who was suspended by Reform UK after the post came to light, told a court it was ‘naughty’, but he did not mean it literally. He also said Nigerians should be melted down to fill potholes The councillor argued his post was not grossly offensive, but Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said: ‘The comment about melting them down conjures up despicable images.’ She said it implied that Nigerians were ‘somewhat less than human, stripping people in that group of humanity’.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
Metro says only that Reform suspended Gibbins after the post came to light. Gibbins told the court he had been suspended, then reinstated, and was now suspended again. Without this a reader believes Reform dealt with the post once and for all, rather than taking him back before suspending him a second time.
Metro reports that suspended Reform councillor Glenn Gibbins was found guilty over a Facebook post saying Nigerians should be melted down to fill potholes, and quotes the prosecutor on how the post dehumanised Nigerians. Its second sentence garbles the timeline: it tells the reader he was convicted two years before his election, when the post dates from March 2024 and the conviction is new. The article also gives a single suspension where Gibbins told the court he was suspended, reinstated and suspended again.
Makes a false claim
Severe
“Glenn Gibbins was convicted of a malicious communication two years before he was elected as a councillor for Hylton Castle Ward in Sunderland in early May.”
Why this matters
The sentence says Gibbins was convicted two years before he was elected. It attaches the time gap to the conviction rather than to the post.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away believing Gibbins already had a criminal conviction for malicious communication when Reform put him up and voters elected him in May.
The context
The post was made in March 2024, before his election, and the conviction came on the day of this report. Metro's own opening sentence says he 'has been found guilty', and other outlets reporting the same hearing put the two years on the post, not the conviction.
Glenn Gibbins, elected as a councillor for Hylton Castle Ward in Sunderland in May, has been convicted of a malicious communication over a Facebook post he made in March 2024, two years before his election.
Leaves out what changes the picture
Minor
What is missing
Metro says only that Reform suspended Gibbins after the post came to light. Gibbins told the court he had been suspended, then reinstated, and was now suspended again. Without this a reader believes Reform dealt with the post once and for all, rather than taking him back before suspending him a second time.