Tory politician’s wife jailed for stirring up racial hatred

Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, has been jailed for more than two-and-a-half years after writing a social media post in which she called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire with people inside.

Connolly, of Parkfield Avenue, Northampton, wrote the post in the wake of the killing of three children in Southport.

Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, Connolly, 41, the wife of West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, was sentence to 31 months’ imprisonment by judge Melbourne Inman, having admitted publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred, at an earlier hearing.

Connolly’s posts were published following the deaths of six-year-old Bebe King, Elise Dot Stancombe, who was seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, who were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop in July. The incident led to racially motivated, anti-immigration riots across the UK after misinformation circulated on social media accounts said a Muslim migrant was responsible.

Axel Rudakubana, now 18, who was born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda, has been charged with three murders, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article. His trial is set to begin in January.

Child-minder Connolly said in her post on X/Twitter: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******s for all I care… if that makes me racist, so be it.”

Sending her down, the judge told Connolly: “Sadly, this is one of a number of cases this court has had to deal with following the tragic events in Southport. Sentences for those who incite racial hatred are intended to both punish and to deter. Your message was widely read, it was viewed 310,000 times. You intended to incite serious violence. What you did encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life.

“Whilst I accept you regret your actions… it is clear from the evidence of your own words in the days following, what you said to the police and what you said to the probation officer, that you have little insight into, or acceptance of, your actions.”

The court heard that the day before Connolly was arrested, she sent a WhatsApp message saying the “raging tweet about burning down hotels has bit me on the ar*e”, and said she would “play the mental-health card” if arrested, and would deny responsibility for the post if asked, The Guardian reported.

Prosecutor Naeem Valli said Connolly also sent a message saying she intended to work her notice period as a childminder “on the sly” despite being deregistered, and had sent another tweet, commenting on a sword attack, that read: “I bet my house it was one of these boat invaders.”

In mitigation, Tom Muir said: “Whatever her intention was in posting the offending tweet, it was short-lived, and she didn’t expect the violence that followed, and she quickly tried to quell it.”

Issuing a statement outside court, detective chief superintendent Rich Tompkins said: “This week is Hate Crime Awareness Week and although it is the courts who are responsible for sentencing, I hope this case demonstrates that the police take reports of this nature seriously and we will do everything we can to help our communities feel safe and protected from fear of violence.

“If you have been a victim of a hate crime, please contact us so we can investigate it. No one should be targeted for who they are.”

Connolly will have to serve 40 per cent of her sentence before being released on licence.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.