Tory councillor's wife Lucy Connolly to be freed TODAY after she was jailed for racist Southport tweet
FINALLY FREE Tory councillor's wife Lucy Connolly to be freed TODAY after she was jailed for racist Southport tweet
A TORY councillor's wife who was jailed for posting a racist tweet after the Southport attack is set to be released from prison today.
Lucy Connolly was sentenced to 31 months in prison in October after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred after she made the post on X just hours following the murders in Southport.
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Lucy's husband - Tory councillor Raymond Connolly - has fought for his wife's 'cruelly long and disproportionate sentence' to be reduced
Credit: PA
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Connolly lost an appeal in May to have her sentence shortened
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However, Connolly - wife of Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly - will be released from prison today after serving less than a year of her sentence, the Telegraph reported.
Posting on X the day three children were murdered by Axel Rudakubana in Southport, Connolly wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the ba***rds for all I care... if that makes me racist so be it."
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 last year.
Critics have slammed her sentence in the past for being too harsh, although Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year defended it.
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When asked in May if Connolly's imprisonment was an "efficient or fair use" of prison, after her Court of Appeal application against her jail term was dismissed, the PM said: "Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and 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."
Connolly's post was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
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Lord Young of Acton, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said: "The fact that Lucy Connolly has spent more than a year in prison for a single tweet that she quickly deleted and apologised for is a national scandal, particularly when Labour MPs, councillors and anti-racism campaigners who've said and done much worse have avoided jail.
"The same latitude they enjoyed should have been granted to Lucy."
In June, Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice claimed Connolly was being "mistreated" in prison.
He said she had been handcuffed and stripped of her privileges by prison officers after visiting her at HMP Peterborough.
Mr Tice told The Sun Connolly was a 'political prisoner' – and vowed to introduce 'Lucy's Law', to stop similar cases of overly harsh punishments if Reform came to power.
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Saying she was being "manhandled without provocation", he told The Sun: "Lucy has bruises on her wrists, five days on from being violently manhandled by a group of aggressive guards who forced her into a wing riddled with drugs and violent women.
"Two prisoners have died there in the last 12 months.
"She was supposed to be in the enhanced wing for good behaviour. Something very wrong has occurred."
More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online
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The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘Well done to Starmer for making it difficult for girl of 12', blasts Lucy Connolly's husband after riot-tweet mum freed
RIOT-tweet mum Lucy Connolly was freed from jail to rejoin her husband and 12-year-old daughter — after more than a year as a victim of 'two-tier justice'. Husband Ray, a Tory on Northampton Town Council said she had coped 'relatively well' with jail, adding: 'The only person who hasn't is our daughter.' 6 Lucy Connolly with husband Ray, who says Starmer deserves a 'pat on the back' for 'making it so difficult for a girl of 12' Credit: SWNS 6 Lucy Connolly was caged for stirring up racial hatred after the Southport killings Credit: PA 6 Lucy left HMP Peterborough in a taxi at 10am Credit: picture Stone Ltd 'It will be good to have her home. We are thankful for the support. 'Our focus will be to try to sort out our lives and for my wife to reconnect with our daughter.' Lucy, 42, caged for stirring up racial hatred after the Southport killings, left HMP Peterborough in a taxi at 10am. Her punishment sparked a major debate, with PM Sir Keir Starmer accused of 'two-tier justice'. Thanked public for support Tory councillor Ray added sarcastically: 'Well done to Starmer for making it so difficult for a girl of 12. Let's all give him a pat on the back.' He said the family were delighted Lucy was coming home after more than a year and thanked the public for their support. Ex-childminder Lucy wore pink for her low-key departure from HMP Peterborough — crouching down in a white Skoda estate at 10am. She did not immediately return to the family's £400,000 semi in Northampton and is understood to be staying away from her home. In all she spent over a year behind bars — two months held on remand before she was sentenced at Birmingham crown court. She was freed at the automatic release point, after serving 40 per cent of her term in prison. Lucy Connolly is freed after jail term for racist tweet over Southport attack She will serve the remainder on licence under supervision. Reform deputy leader Richard Tice MP, who visited her in jail, told The Sun: 'I'm delighted that Lucy is finally out of prison. 'She should never have been inside in the first place. 'I understand she is doing OK and am sure it was a very emotional reunion for her. 'The family will now need some time and space to readjust and welcome Lucy home. 6 Lucy was arrested on August 6 and later pleased guilty to stirring up racial hatred 6 Her husband Ray, a Tory on Northampton Town Council, said she had coped 'relatively well' with jail Credit: PA 6 PM Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of 'two-tier justice' Credit: AFP 'We all need to keep the pressure on the Government and Keir Starmer as to why she was prosecuted in the first place. 'Given that, in 2013, while Director of Public Prosecutions he introduced guidelines that would have kept Lucy out of jail he is the biggest hypocrite in the country. 'This case just confirms that we have two-tier justice.' Lucy tweeted on July 29, 2024, hours after Axel Rudakubana killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a dance class. Lucy was charged with stirring up racial hatred — an offence that doesn't even require intent to incite violence. Toy leader Kemi Badenoch Her post called for 'mass deportation now' and urged followers on X to 'set fire' to migrant hotels. It was viewed 310,000 times in the three hours before she deleted it. Lucy was arrested on August 6 and later pleaded guilty to stirring up racial hatred. During her appeal against her sentence in May, the Court of Appeal heard the news of the Southport murders had sparked a resurgence of the anxiety caused by her son Harry's death at the age of 19 months, 14 years earlier. When Sir Keir was DPP in 2013, he introduced guidance saying prosecutors should consider being lenient to suspects who 'swiftly' deleted tweets or showed remorse. Speaking after Lucy's release, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said 'Her punishment was harsher than sentences handed down for bricks thrown at police or actual rioting. 'After Southport, Keir Starmer branded all protesters 'far-right' and called for fast-track prosecutions. "Days later, Lucy was charged with stirring up racial hatred — an offence that doesn't even require intent to incite violence. "Why exactly did the Attorney General think that was in the public interest? Meanwhile, former Labour councillor Ricky Jones called for protestors to have their throats slit. 'Law itself is broken' 'Charged with encouraging violent disorder, he pleaded not guilty and was acquitted by a jury who saw his words as a disgusting remark made in the heat of the moment, not a call to action. 'Juries are a cornerstone of justice, but we shouldn't have to rely on them to protect basic freedoms. 'Protecting people from words should not be given greater weight in law than public safety. 'If the law does this, then the law itself is broken and it's time Parliament looked again at the Public Order Act.' Sir Keir defended Lucy's sentence in May saying: 'I am strongly in favour of free speech. 'But I am equally against incitement to violence against others. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.' Lucy was one of around a dozen lags freed from 1,200-inmate all-female HMP Peterborough yesterday. She had been put on a 'basic regime' after refusing to return to her cell. It meant she had £5.50 a week to spend in the canteen. Mr Tice claimed she was bruised after being manhandled by guards. Yesterday ex-prison governor Ian Acheson suggested Lucy could sue, which would mean jail logs would be disclosable to her lawyers. He added: 'I've no idea whether this will happen, but features of her treatment alleged in media were so perverse it's a real possibility. Interesting times ahead.' LOCKED UP FOR ONE TWEET IS SCANDAL By Lord Toby Young, from The Free Speech Union I was glad to see Lucy Connolly finally walk free today, but the fact that she has spent more than a year in prison for a single tweet -- quickly deleted and apologised for -- is a national scandal, particularly when Labour MPs, councillors and anti-racism campaigners who have said and done much worse have avoided jail. The same latitude they enjoyed should have been granted to Lucy. Sir Keir Starmer said in May that Lucy's sentence was justified because her tweet was 'incitement to violence against other people'. But was it? The test we employ when deciding whether to prosecute someone for supposedly inciting violence should be the same as it is in the United States, namely, was it intended to cause violence and was it likely to? I don't think Lucy's tweet met either limb of that test (and for speech not to be protected by the First Amendment in America it has to meet both). Had she urged her followers to burn down a particular asylum hotel, maybe it would have failed those tests. But she did not and she added the words 'for all I care', suggesting she was indifferent as to whether asylum hotels in general were burnt down and not inciting people to set fire to them. Had she pleaded not guilty, she might well have been acquitted by a jury, just as the ex-Royal Marine Jamie Michael was after being charged with the same offence. The Free Speech Union, the organisation I run, paid for Jamie's defence and we offered to pay for Lucy's. But unlike Ricky Jones, the Labour councillor who urged people to cut the throats of anti-immigration protestors, she was not granted bail and worried that if she pleaded not guilty she would have to spend longer in prison awaiting trial than if she pleaded guilty. As it turned out, she was wrong about that, but then she was not expecting to be sentenced to more than two-and-half years, which is longer than some members of grooming gangs have received after pleading guilty to child rape. What Lucy has suffered at the hands of the British state is a clear case of injustice. She has become Exhibit A for those of us raising the alarm about the assault on free speech in Starmer's Britain. And if it's any consolation to her, that alarm is now being heard across the world, from the White House to Quinta de Olivos in Argentina. Let's hope the people of Britain wake up to this attack on their right to freedom of expression before they lose it entirely. Lord Young is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union.
The Irish Sun
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9 hours ago
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