Judge to decide if Reform councillor’s post protected by freedom of expression

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Glenn Gibbins, a councillor for Sunderland City, appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in connection with a Facebook post from March 2024, before he was elected.

It was announced by Northumbria Police last month that Gibbins had been charged with posting a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character under the Communications Act 2003.

The 66-year-old denied the offence.

The police said the post referenced the Nigerian community.

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District Judge Zoe Passfield said: “The issue is very straightforward; was the message offensive, which Gibbins agrees it was, or was it grossly offensive?”

“Was it sufficiently offensive to override his Article 10 rights?”, the judge asked, referring to the right to freedom of expression.

Gibbins spoke only to confirm his name and address.

The investigation was launched by police when the post came to light in May, the same month Gibbins was elected.

He was later suspended by Reform after being accused of complaining on social media about the “amount of Nigerians in town”.

According to campaign group Hope Not Hate, Gibbins said in a later-deleted post: “Should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!”

Reform reinstated him, before suspending him again after he was charged. He is now listed as an Independent on the Sunderland City Council website.

A three-hour trial has been scheduled at the same court for November 9, and Gibbins has been granted unconditional bail.

On Thursday, a Reform spokesperson said: “Cllr Gibbins has been suspended from Reform UK pending the outcome of his case.”