Andy Osborn, 74, Reform UK councillor for Roman Bank and Peckover on Cambridgeshire County Council, was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday 16 April of publishing a false statement about a candidate contrary to Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 1. District Judge Nina Tempia rejected his claim that his Facebook account had been hacked when a 2025 post asserted that Conservative candidate Samantha Hoy had "worked in the care industry but allegedly was sacked for fraud". Osborn was fined £1,000 with £400 costs and a £400 victim surcharge, totalling £1,800. The conviction triggers automatic disqualification from his council seat and a by-election.
This is the first known Section 106 conviction of a Reform UK elected representative. The standard reference for the statute's reach is the 2010 election court ruling on Phil Woolas, the Labour MP whose election was voided after a Section 106 finding for false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent. Osborn's case ran through magistrates rather than election court, reflecting the case-by-case route, but the substantive offence is the same. In practice, the conviction triggers an automatic by-election in a Cambridgeshire ward weeks before the full county council election. Section 106 is the same statute that constrains every reporter writing about a candidate in the eleven days before 7 May .
