Mother jailed over Southport post has bid to see daughter rejected
Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months for inciting racial hatred in a tweet, has been told by prison bosses she will not be released on temporary licence (Rotl) despite being described by one prison expert as an 'ideal candidate' for such home leave.
Documents seen by The Telegraph have previously suggested the 42-year-old childminder from Northampton faced being refused Rotl amid concerns over public and media interest in her case rather than any apparent failure to meet the criteria for temporary release.
In her plea for Rotl, Connolly cited a deterioration in her 12-year-old daughter's school behaviour which is 'totally out of character' and the stress being placed on her sick husband, Ray, a Tory councillor, who is suffering from bone marrow failure.
A HM Prison Service spokesman declined to comment on individual cases but said: 'To be eligible for temporary release, prisoners must be compliant with all prison rules.'
The prison service refused to say why Connolly had been rejected for Rotl but noted there are rules that dictate any contact with the media needs to be signed off by the prison governor.
Adam King, Connolly's barrister, who is leading her legal attempt to appeal against her sentence, said: 'We don't have the full details but this strikes me as very unfair and needs to be challenged.'
Connolly's husband said: 'I am very disappointed that my wife Lucy has yet again been denied Rotl. I'm disappointed this is what our country is becoming. Our 12-year-old daughter is struggling and she needs her mummy at home.
'This decision is not based on evidence in my opinion. Lucy is a good and kind person who has been a model prisoner. She has helped other inmates on the path to reform.
'Lucy has been entitled to Rotl since November but they have turned down every request. It's not nice to think they've got it in for Lucy but when she sees other prisoners who have done far worse crimes – like killing a child by dangerous driving – getting out, you think they're still making an example of her.
'Lucy was really calm when they told her she didn't get Rotl this time and would only be able to apply again in 12 weeks. Lucy has asked to be transferred back to Peterborough prison which is much nearer us. I hope they grant that so I can take our daughter to see her mummy once a week.'
Rotl is not a straightforward legal right but is considered a privilege. Prisoners can appeal against a decision through the jail's internal complaints procedure and ultimately to the prisons and probation ombudsman. It cannot, however, be typically challenged in court but inmates can sue for alleged abuse of prison powers.
Connolly was arrested after posting on X hours after the Southport killings. She spoke of mass deportations and setting fire to asylum hotels 'for all I care'. 'I feel physically sick knowing what these [Southport] families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it,' she added.
She took it down within four hours after thinking better of what she had written in the heat of the moment but not before it had been viewed 310,000 times and screenshot. She was interviewed by police on August 6 and charged three days later. She has been in jail since, having pleaded guilty and then been sentenced in October.
Connolly has been eligible for Rotl since last November based on her prison time served. Rotl is open to inmates as a way to 'rebuild family ties' and allows for up to two overnight home stays a month.
The only offenders who are excluded under prison rules include category A prisoners, many serving time for violent, terrorist and sexual crimes; those formally listed as escape risks; and suspects facing extradition.
Asked to assess the process by The Telegraph last week, former prison governor Ian Acheson, who has advised the Government on extremism in jails, said: 'It can't be right that someone who is otherwise eligible is not being considered because of either the prison's failure to properly risk assess or her 'notoriety'. It would be perfectly possible for prison authorities to set conditions that precludes any media exposure.
'In my opinion and given the offence details and the background to her custodial behaviour I have seen, she ought to be an ideal candidate for early release to allow her reintegration to start. Many more risky individuals are walking free as a result of Labour's emergency mass release legislation.'
Rotl is decided by the governor of HMP Drake Hall in Staffordshire where Connolly was transferred at the start of the year.
Last week, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'These are discretionary schemes, and each case is rigorously scrutinised, considering the severity of the offence, the prisoner's conduct and the potential impact on victims and the community.'
It is believed Connolly has qualified for an enhanced regime, a reward for good behaviour. Probation documents suggest her application for Rotl at her previous prison HMP Peterborough was delayed until a risk assessment was done.
One internal note said: 'It is not necessarily going to happen due to the public interest.' Another said: 'The media interest has been raised as an issue in terms of any future ROTL applications.'
She is also not automatically eligible for home detention curfew (HDC), where prisoners can be released as little as a fifth of the way through their sentences by being placed on electronic GPS tags with restrictions on the times they can leave their home.
Offenders convicted of racially aggravated offences are excluded from HDC unless they can show there are exceptional circumstances to override the ban.
Connolly is also seeking to appeal against her sentence, with a hearing due on May 15. Mr King, her barrister, is expected to argue the judge miscategorised her offence with a sentence wrongly based on intending to incite serious violence.
This meant she received a longer sentence than she should have done.
If it had been 'correctly' categorised under sentencing council guidelines, she could have been jailed for less than two years, which would have made her eligible for a suspended prison sentence.
Mr King will also argue the judge failed to give sufficient weight to mitigating factors.
These included an unblemished record, positive good character references, messages that she also sent saying violence was not the answer, that she deleted the post in 3.5 hours, and her emotional sensitivity to children's deaths after the loss of her 19-month-old son 10 years earlier in a major hospital blunder.
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