Councillor's wife jailed for race hate social media post released from prison
A woman jailed for inciting racial hatred after the Southport attack has been released from prison.
Lucy Connolly, 42, an employee of Northampton Town Council, was sentenced to 31 months in prison at Birmingham Crown Court in October but was released from HMP Peterborough earlier this year. She pleaded guilty in September to publishing an expletive-ridden post on X (formerly Twitter) the day after three girls were stabbed in Southport in July 2024.
Connolly, who is from Northampton, had called for 'mass deportation now' and advised her followers on X to 'set fire' to hotels housing asylum seekers. She was released after serving 40% of her sentence and will now complete her probation on licence under the supervision of the probation service.
Details of Her Release and Arrest
Connolly was seen leaving HMP Peterborough in a white taxi shortly after 9:30 am BST. The taxi reportedly sped away from the prison's vehicle airlock, a set of two gates leading out of the facility, past reporters.
On July 29, 2024, the former childminder posted the message on X. She was arrested on August 6, 2024, after having deleted her social media pages. However, officers discovered other messages on her confiscated phone. The original post had been viewed 310,000 times in the three-and-a-half hours before she took it down. In court, she confessed to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing 'threatening or abusive' written material on X.
Public and Political Reaction
Connolly's husband, Raymond, a former West Northamptonshire district councillor, defended her, saying she was a "good person and not a bigot" and that she had "paid a lot more for making a mistake."
While some people criticised the sentence as being too harsh, Sir Keir Starmer defended it during Prime Minister's Questions on May 21. When asked if Connolly's imprisonment was an 'efficient or fair use' of prison, he responded:
"Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and I applaud the fact that we have independent courts in this world. I am a big advocate for free expression; we've had free expression in this world for a long time, and we protect it fiercely. But I am also opposed to inciting violence against other people. I will continue to endorse the steps taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe."
An appeal to reduce her sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal in May.
