Former MEP Nathan Gill Sentenced to 10.5 Years for Bribery

Nathan Gill, a former Member of the European Parliament and brief leader of Reform UK in Wales, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Friday for accepting bribes to deliver pro-Russian statements during his time as an MEP. The 52-year-old from Anglesey, North Wales, pleaded guilty in September to eight counts of bribery committed between December 2018 and July 2019 while representing the UK Independence Party and later the Brexit Party.

At London's Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described the offenses as sophisticated and profoundly harmful, stating that Gill had abused a position of significant authority and trust. "You allowed money to corrupt your moral compass when it had been your duty as an elected official to speak with honesty and conviction," the judge said. "When you say what someone has paid you to say, you are not speaking with sincerity." She noted that Gill's actions fundamentally compromised the integrity of the European Parliament, a supranational legislative body, especially amid the EU's association agreement with Ukraine at the time.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC told the court that Gill received at least...