Reform UK’s former leader in Wales Nathan Gill jailed over pro-Russia bribes
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been jailed for taking bribes to make pro-Russian statements while a member of the European Parliament.
Nathan Gill, 52, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday. previously pleaded guilty to eight bribery charges Between December 6, 2018 and July 18, 2019. Lady Judge Cheema-Grubb sentenced him to 10-and-a-half years in prison.
His activities included making pro-Russian statements. Events in Ukraine in the European Parliament and opinion pieces to news organizations. Gill was first elected as a Ukip member of the European Parliament in 2014 and his term ends when the UK leaves the EU in 2020; At this point he became an MP for the Brexit Party.
he led reform in the united kingdom He campaigned for the 2021 Welsh Parliament election but left the party later that year.
Explaining the facts of the case at the Old Bailey on Friday, prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said Gill’s crimes came to light after he was stopped at Manchester airport on September 13, 2021, and his phone was seized.
“He said he traveled to Russia upon invitation to attend a scientific conference in Moscow and was invited to serve as an observer in the elections to the Russian State Duma in the middle of that month.
“He also said that he had played the same role twice before,” the prosecutor said.
Gill’s mobile phone was examined and messages were found between him and 44-year-old Oleg Voloshyn, a pro-Russian Ukrainian government official from before 2014.
Mr Heywood said: “Communication between the two men showed that an established relationship existed between them.”
It was stated that the WhatsApp messages between the couple included the expressions “promised Christmas gifts”, “postcards” and “5K” referring to payments.
After talking from the script in a debate, Voloshyn told him: “Impressive… you are an excellent orator,” the court was told.
At the time of the offenses, Gill was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and was initially elected to the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip). Gill, from Anglesey in north Wales, remained an MP until England left the union in 2020 and served as a member of the National Assembly for Wales for part of that time, the court heard.
The Old Bailey also heard that, following the 2019 European Elections, Oleg Voloshyn asked Gill to arrange for Brexit Party colleagues to attend a presentation by Victor Medvedchuk on the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region.
“He asked Mr Gill to book a room and invite his Brexit Party colleagues to attend,” Mr Heywood said.
He added: “Mr Gill said he would meet his new colleagues but said it would take time to build relationships with them as they were all new to politics.
“He later expressed confidence that he could ‘drag a few to join.’
“Mr Voloshyn’s response to this was that he would certainly be fairly rewarded, followed by the words: ‘I already have a small gift of a sack of paper for you’.”
Mr Heywood said Gill voluntarily attended a police station interview and no comments were made to any questions. The prosecutor told the court Gill’s crime fell into the “highest category of offending”.
He said: “The indictment spanned a series of months and probably ended at a time when it became clear that his involvement and his role as a member of the European Parliament had either come to an end or would soon come to an end.
“It appears from the materials that Mr Gill expected to receive an order of several thousand, perhaps £5,000 or euros, for each offence. “He would do this in cash, but he would do so secretly.
Peter Wright KC, defending Gill, said his client was “of good character so far” and was facing prison for the first time.
“(He) has a commendable record of service to others, which is reflected in his credentials and political career, culminating both as an MP in the European Parliament and in his election to the Welsh Assembly,” he said.
“He is now completely shaken by his conduct, as reflected in the charges in this indictment, which, in the context of his life, with all his laudable and noble characteristics, are completely incomprehensible.”
Mr Wright said Gill’s Eurosceptic views “took on greater importance” due to the wider political climate at the time, but he also had a “real concern” about ongoing tensions between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine.
“He traveled and met with a number of opposition Ukrainian MPs who highlighted to him the plight of the Russian-speaking segments of the population,” he said.
“This was one version of events, and a prism through which we viewed the intriguing tensions of how insularly these tensions were portrayed on the geopolitical stage. “The defendant had not deliberately attempted to monetise his existence.
“But it is clear that payments were offered. They were not rejected and, to his embarrassment, once made they were hidden and undeclared.
“He can offer no excuse for a completely affordable compromise of the principles he has ever espoused. There is no attempt on his part to deflect or conceal the truth.”
Gill made no comment when interviewed by police in March 2022 and was charged in January 2025.
He pleaded guilty to eight bribery charges in September but denied one charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
