Boris Johnson warns that Starmer's Britain is 'turning into a police state' after mother who tweeted about Southport murders fails in her bid to have lengthy jail term slashed
Britain is becoming a police state under Labour, Boris Johnson warned last night.
He spoke as a sentencing row erupted after a mother locked up for a tweet after the Southport murders failed in a bid to reduce her lengthy jail term.
Lucy Connolly posted a vile message about migrants – but supporters point out that criminals found guilty of far more serious offences have been handed substantially shorter sentences.
And former prime minister Mr Johnson warned that the country is 'losing its reputation for free speech' as a growing number of online rants draw the attention of police.
Connolly, 42, had asked the Court of Appeal to free her early from a 31-month sentence for inciting racial hatred, imposed after she posted a tweet urging people to 'set fire to the hotels' on the day of the triple murder last summer.
She posted it at a time of swirling misinformation online, including a claim that the knifeman who killed three girls was a small boat migrant – a false claim that would lead to weeks of race riots.
Connolly's 'heartbroken' husband, Northampton Tory councillor Ray, insisted his wife was 'a good person... not a far-Right thug' as judges yesterday dismissed her appeal against her jail term.
He condemned the system as 'two-tier justice' and said it was 'not the British way'.
Mr Johnson blasted the 'crazy and inhuman judgment', warning: 'Starmer's Britain is losing its reputation for free speech and turning into a police state, where we must all learn to fear the knock on the door simply for something we say.
'The UK police are now making over 10,000 arrests every year for online comment, more than the police in Russia itself, and this judgment is yet another propaganda gift for Vladimir Putin.'
Mother-of-one Connolly is currently at HMP Drake Hall, Staffordshire, for her post on X, formerly Twitter, which read: '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.'
She is unlikely to be released until August. Her imprisonment led to protests by campaigners carrying placards declaring 'police our streets, not our tweets'.
Supporters said her sickening tweet – posted hours after Cardiff-born killer Axel Rudakubana murdered three girls at a dance class on July 29 – was a 'stupid mistake' but compared her 'rotting in jail' with many violent thugs handed lighter prison terms.
Connolly claimed she had no idea what she was admitting to when she pleaded guilty last October, an argument three senior judges found was unlikely.
Last night Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick said: 'In recent months shoplifters with hundreds of prior convictions have avoided prison.
'A domestic abuser with 52 prior offences got off with a suspended sentence, as did a paedophile with 110,000 indecent images of children.
Connolly's 'heartbroken' husband, Northampton Tory councillor Ray, pictured, insisted his wife was 'a good person... not a far-Right thug' as judges yesterday dismissed her appeal against her jail term.
'And yet Lucy Connolly has received a 31-month prison sentence for an appalling – albeit hastily deleted – message on social media.
'How on earth can you spend longer in prison for a tweet than violent crime?
'This crazy disparity will only fuel perception that we have a two-tier justice system where the law is enforced selectively.'
Among the vile thugs who have received shorter sentences than Connolly was actual rioter Haris Ghaffar, who was given 20 months for the storming of a Birmingham pub.
Speaking to The Telegraph yesterday, Connolly said from HMP Drake Hall: 'Shame on them.
'Those three judges that were sitting there in court should be ashamed of themselves, they are cruel.'
After yesterday's ruling, Mr Connolly said: 'My wife Lucy is a good person and not a racist.
Lucy got more time in jail for one tweet than some paedophiles and domestic abusers get. My wife has paid a very high price for making a mistake and today the court has shown no mercy'.
He added: 'The 284 days of separation have been very hard, particularly on our 12-year-old girl. Lucy posted one nasty tweet when she was upset and angry about three little girls who were brutally murdered in Southport.
'She realised the tweet was wrong and deleted it within four hours. That did not mean Lucy was a 'far-Right thug' as Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed.
'As a childminder, she took care of small children of African and Asian heritage; they loved Lucy as she loved them.'
Mr Connolly said the system 'wanted to make an example of Lucy so others would be scared to say things about immigration'.
Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: 'How can it be right for Lucy to have been condemned to spend more than two-and-a-half years in jail for a single tweet when members of grooming gangs who plead guilty to the sexual exploitation of children get lower sentences?
'Lucy should be at home with her daughter and husband, not rotting in jail.'
The Free Speech Union said: 'No one disputes the tweet was offensive but the sentence of more than two-and-a-half years was plainly disproportionate.'
Rupert Lowe, the former Reform MP now sitting as an Independent, called it 'morally repugnant to separate a mother from her children over one stupid social media post'.
Writing to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, he said: 'Who is being served by having Lucy Connolly in prison? It is definitely not the public, who I believe would feel far safer if a violent criminal was incarcerated in that cell.'
Asked by broadcasters if free speech was dead in the UK, Sir Keir said: 'Firstly, I'm strongly in favour of free speech… and we protect it fiercely.
'I'm equally, though, against incitement to violence. That has long been an offence in our country, and rightly so.'
The Southport atrocity sparked nationwide rioting. The tweet by Connolly was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
She later admitted at Birmingham Crown Court to distributing material with the intention of stirring up racial hatred.
Last week she appealed against the sentence, telling the Court of Appeal in London she had no idea the full extent of what she was admitting. But yesterday Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Sheldon, said she 'had willingly pleaded guilty'.
They found Connolly was an 'intelligent and articulate' woman… 'well aware of what she was admitting'.
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