'No mercy' for councillor's wife jailed for racist tweet as early release bid denied
20 May 2025, 11:11 | Updated: 20 May 2025, 12:43
A Tory councillor's wife who was jailed for posting an online rant on the day of last year's Southport attacks will remain behind bars after an appeal to have her sentence reduced was dismissed.
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Childminder Lucy Connolly, from Northampton, suggested people should "set fire" to hotels housing asylum seekers and called for "mass deportation now" in a post on 29 July.
She launched an appeal against her 31-month prison sentence for inciting racial hatred but it was dismissed today at the Court of Appeal.
Judges ruled that "there is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive".
After the decision, her husband Ray Connolly said he was “heartbroken” his wife Lucy’s appeal bid was dismissed, adding: “My wife has paid a very high price for making a mistake and today the court has shown her no mercy”.
Connolly was jailed last October after admitting making the post on X, formerly known as Twitter. She is currently serving her sentence behind bars at HMP Drake Hall, Staffordshire.
The post, which she later deleted, said: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
It came after three girls were stabbed and killed at a holiday club in Southport on the same date, sparking nationwide unrest.
Last week Connolly told the Court of Appeal in London she “never” intended to incite violence and did not realise pleading guilty would mean she accepted that she had.
She said she had been “really angry” after the Southport attacks, but hours after posting the rant on X realised it was not an acceptable thing to say, so deleted it.
Adam King, representing Connolly, asked if she had intended for anyone to set fire to asylum hotels or “murder any politicians”.
She replied: “Absolutely not.”
Naeem Valli, for the prosecution, told the court the post was a reflection of her attitude towards immigrants.
He added: “At the time of creating the post, the applicant clearly intended the racial hatred would be stirred up and also intended to incite serious violence.”
Earlier, he had asked Connolly if she believed the country was being “invaded” by immigrants.
She replied: “I believe that we have a massive number of people in the country that are unchecked, coming into the country and I believe that is a national security risk.”
She added that it would be “absolutely incorrect” to say she did not want immigrants in the country.
Connolly, of Northampton, was arrested on August 6, by which point she had deleted her social media account, but other messages which included further racist remarks were uncovered by officers who seized her phone.
The former childminder, who is married to Raymond Connolly, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court last October after pleading guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred.
Mr Connolly had been a Tory West Northamptonshire district councillor but lost his seat in May. He remains on the town council.
