Ex-Reform leader in Wales jailed over pro-Russia bribes

The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been jailed for 10 and a half years after taking bribes to make pro-Russia statements while a member of the European parliament.

- DAN HAYGARTH

Nathan Gill, 52, was sentenced at the Old Bailey yesterday after previously pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.

Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb handed him the sentence as she said that the harm he had caused was “profound” and that he had “fundamentally compromised” the integrity of a legislative body for “substantial” financial gain. Gill’s activities included making pro-Russia statements about events in Ukraine in the European parliament and in opinion pieces for news outlets, for which he was paid £40,000.

Gill was first elected a member of the European parliament in 2014, representing Ukip, and his role ended when the UK left the EU in 2020 - at which point he was an MEP for the Brexit Party. He led Reform UK’s 2021 Welsh parliament election campaign, but left the party that year.

Opening the facts of the case at the Old Bailey yesterday, prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said Gill’s crimes were exposed after he was stopped at Manchester airport on 13 September 2021 and his phone was seized. “He said that he was travelling to Russia by invitation to attend a scientific conference in Moscow, and that he had been invited to act as an observer in the Russian state Duma elections in the middle of that month. He also said that he had performed the same role on two previous occasions,” the prosecutor said.

Gill’s mobile phone was examined and messages were found between him and Oleg Voloshyn, now 44, who served as a pro-Russia Ukrainian government official until 2014. Mr Heywood said: “The communications between the two men showed that an established relationship existed between them.”

WhatsApp messages between the pair included references to “promised x-mas gifts”, “postcards”, and “5K”, which was a reference to payments, he said. After Gill spoke from a script at one debate, Mr Voloshyn told him: “Impressive... You are the perfect orator”, the court was told.