Northamptonshire Tory Councillor's wife jailed for race hate post
41 year old Lucy Connolly of Parkfield Avenue was charged with publishing threatening or abusive material
Last updated 17th Oct 2024
The wife of a Northamptonshire Tory Councillor has been sentenced over social media messages she posted during the riots this summer.
The messages were found to have incited racial hatred.
Lucy Connolly, from Parkfield Avenue, Northampton, posted on X, formerly Twitter, on the day of the Southport knife killings saying: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f** hotels... If that makes me racist, so be it."
The 41 year old former childminder pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court on September 2nd.
She's been in custody since her first trial, after which Judge Adrienne Lucking KC said the case was transferred to Birmingham to avoid any potential appearance of bias given Connolly's husband held a political post in the local area.
Today she appeared at Birmingham Crown Court for sentencing.
Speaking at her previous trial her husband Raymond Connolly, a Councillor for West Northamptonshire in Delapre and Rushmere called Lucy an upset housewife:
"She got dragged into it, and obviously regrets it."
The Recorder of Birmingham Judge Melbourne Inman KC said Connolly was “well aware how volatile the situation was” when she posted the tweet, which was viewed 310,000 times in the three-and-a-half hours it was live before she deleted it.
He said: “As everyone is aware, that volatility led to serious disorder in a number of areas of the country where mindless violence was used to cause injury and damage to wholly innocent members of the public and to their properties.”
The judge added that Connolly had encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life.
Connolly was ordered to serve 40% of her 31-month sentence in prison before being released on license.