What did Lucy Connolly tweet to earn 31-month sentence?
Lucy Connolly was released from prison on Thursday after a prison sentence for inciting racial hatred by posting a hate tweet.
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The wife of a former Tory councillor sent her offending post in the hours after following Axel Rudakubana murdering three children in the Southport terror attacks.
Connolly, 41, is set to walk free from HMP Peterborough, where she was incarcerated in October and sentenced to 31 months behind bars.
Her sentence sparked fierce debate on LBC on Thursday morning.
Here is why it has been so controversial.
What did Lucy Connolly tweet?
Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana stabbed three children and injured 10 others at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop on July 29, 2024.
Rudakubana was a British citizen, born in 2006 into a family that had migrated from Rwanda four years earlier.
In the hours after the attack, Connolly, a childminder, tweeted: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
Her post was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
In the days that followed, far-right riots were held at various towns and cities across the UK, fuelled by anti-immigration sentiment as well as misinformation.
Connolly is the wife of a Conservative West Northamptonshire councillor and was arrested shortly afterwards.
She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material on X and was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court in October.
Why has her arrest been controversial?
Connolly’s husband, Raymond and 12-year-old daughter, as well as campaigners, have been calling for her release, calling the sentence too harsh.
Allegations that she was a victim of 'two-tier justice', with those holding right-wing views treated more harshly under the law. Asked during Prime Minister’s Questions whether her imprisonment was an “efficient or fair use” of prison, Sir Keir Starmer said: "Sentencing is a matter for our courts.
“I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country.
"I am strongly in favour of free speech; we’ve had free speech in this country for a very long time, and we protect it fiercely.
“But I am equally against incitement to violence against other people. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.”
Raymond Connolly resigned as a councillor in the aftermath.