THE WIFE of a Conservative Party councillor has been jailed over a social media post in which she called for mass deportation as well as setting fire to hotels housing asylum seekers.
At Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, 41-year-old Lucy Connolly was sentenced to 31 months after admitting inciting racial hatred with the post on Twitter/X.
The childminder — whose husband Raymond Connolly sits on West Northamptonshire Council — posted the message on the day that three young girls were stabbed to death in Southport.
"Using threatening, abusive or insulting language to rile up racism online is unacceptable and is breaking the law," said Frank Ferguson, Head of the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Guilty plea
Connolly posted just hours after the July 29 killings, having encountered false information online which said the killer had been a Muslim asylum seeker who had come to the country on a boat.
In her now deleted Twitter/X post from July 29, she wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the b******s for all I care."
She added: "If that makes me a racist, so be it."
Councillor Raymond Connolly leaves Birmingham Crown Court after his wife was jailed for 31 months (Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)The text of the post was also copied and pasted on Twitter/X by 26-year-old Tyler Kay on August 7.
Within two days, the father-of-three was arrested, charged and sentenced to 38 months after admitting publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred.
Connolly, meanwhile, was interviewed by police on August 6 and admitted writing the inflammatory post, before being charged three days later.
On Monday, September 2, she pleaded guilty to publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred, with the plea entitling her to a 25 per cent reduction in the minimum three-and-a-half-year term.
'Play the mental health card'
During his sentencing, Judge Melbourne Inman KC highlighted how police had traced other racist tweets sent by Connolly both before and after the Southport killings.
It was also heard that in a WhatsApp message, she wrote that she would deny being responsible for the message and if arrested, would 'play the mental health card'.
Connolly's defence, meanwhile, highlighted the loss of her 19-month-old son Harry in 2011.
The toddler died from dehydration and acute kidney failure after a series of failures saw him twice being discharged from hospital and sent home from an out-of-hours GP service.
In his sentencing, Judge Inman acknowledged the 'tragedy' of the loss of her 'very young child'.
However, he added that while Connolly understood the grief of the Southport families, she 'did not send a message of understanding and comfort but rather an incitement to hatred'.
Connolly was ordered to serve 40 per cent of her sentence, with the remainder to be spent on license.
'Strong views on immigration'
Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Ferguson said Connolly thought she could escape justice 'by hiding behind a screen'.
"During police interview, Lucy Connolly stated she had strong views on immigration, told officers she did not like illegal immigrants and claimed that children were not safe from them," he said.
"It is not an offence to have strong or differing political views, but it is an offence to incite racial hatred — and that is what Connolly has admitted doing.
"The prosecution case included evidence which showed that racist tweets were sent out from Mrs Connolly's X account both in the weeks and months before the Southport attacks — as well as in the days after.
"Connolly wrongly thought that she could escape justice by hiding behind a screen, but today she has pleaded guilty and admitted her crime.
"She will now face the consequences of her actions."
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