A TORY councillor’s spouse who was jailed for posting a racist tweet after the Southport assault has been launched from jail.
Lucy Connolly was sentenced to 31 months in jail in October after being discovered responsible of inciting racial hatred after she made the submit on X simply hours following the murders in Southport.
PALucy Connolly was jailed in October for 31 months after posting a racist tweet on X[/caption]
PAReform UK deputy chief Richard Tice had raised considerations for alleged ‘mistreatment’ of Connolly whereas she was imprisoned at HMP Peterborough[/caption]
In the present day, nonetheless, Connolly – the spouse of Tory councillor Raymond Connolly – has walked free from HMP Peterborough after serving lower than half her sentence.
Connolly’s sentencing had been slammed as “two-tier justice” and was referred to as “cruelly lengthy and disproportionate sentence” by Raymond.
After pleading responsible to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written materials on X, she was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court docket in October final yr.
Her tweet – which was deleted three-and-a-half hours after it was posted – mentioned: “Mass deportation now, set fireplace to all of the f****** resorts filled with the ba***rds for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
She had made the submit the identical day three youngsters have been murdered by Axel Rudakubana in Southport.
Connolly had tried to attraction her sentence in Could however the Court docket of Attraction dismissed the case.
Following this, husband Ray mentioned he was “heartbroken”, including: “My spouse has paid a really excessive value for making a mistake and right this moment the courtroom has proven her no mercy”.
He additionally referred to as the choice to throw the bid out “stunning and unfair” and claimed his spouse was the sufferer of “two-tier justice”.
The councillor mentioned: “The 284 days of separation have been very onerous, notably on our 12-year-old woman. Lucy posted one nasty tweet when she was upset and offended about three little ladies who have been brutally murdered in Southport.
“She realised the tweet was flawed and deleted it inside 4 hours. That didn’t imply Lucy was a ‘far proper thug’ as Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed.
“My spouse Lucy is an efficient individual and never a racist. As a childminder she took care of young children of African and Asian heritage; they beloved Lucy as she beloved them.
“My spouse has paid a really excessive value for making a mistake and right this moment the courtroom has proven her no mercy.
“Lucy received extra time in jail for one tweet than some paedophiles and home abusers get.
“I believe the system wished to make an instance of Lucy so different folks could be scared to say issues about immigration. This isn’t the British method.”
The Free Speech Union – which funded Connolly’s attraction bid – mentioned it didn’t dispute that the tweet was “offensive” however mentioned it was “deeply disillusioned” within the dismissal of the attraction.
It added: “Two-and-a-half years for a single tweet is grossly disproportionate and it ought to hassle anybody who believes the regulation have to be utilized evenly, with out concern or favour.”
Connolly’s case has additionally attracted worldwide consideration, with the US Division of State saying in Could it was “monitoring” her state of affairs.
After she misplaced her attraction to cut back her sentence, a spokesman for the state division mentioned: “We are able to verify that we’re monitoring this matter.
“The US helps freedom of expression at dwelling and overseas, and stays involved about infringements on freedom of expression.”
Earlier this yr, a trainer was sacked after calling Connolly’s jail sentence “two-tier policing”.
Simon Pearson, 56, who taught English to international language college students at Preston Faculty in Lancashire, misplaced his job following an inside investigation after he posted about Connolly.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has confronted accusations of hypocrisy for defending Connolly’s “harsh” sentencing, after he himself beforehand advised those that rapidly deleted offensive social media statements mustn’t essentially face legal motion.
Connolly’s submit was considered 310,000 instances within the three-and-a-half hours earlier than she deleted it.
Whereas serving as director of public prosecutions, Starmer launched steerage for prosecutors to contemplate a extra lenient strategy in the direction of suspects who “swiftly” deleted social media posts and expressed “real regret”.
The steerage urged prosecutors to contemplate 4 components the place “a prosecution is unlikely to be each essential and proportionate”.
These included if “swift and efficient motion has been taken by the suspect and/or others, for instance service suppliers, to take away the communication in query or in any other case block entry to it”.
It additionally urged prosecutors to take a look at whether or not the communication was “meant for a large viewers” and if this viewers “included the sufferer or goal of the communication in query”.
In June, Reform UK’s deputy chief Richard Tice claimed Connolly was being “mistreated” in jail.
He mentioned she had been handcuffed and stripped of her privileges by jail officers after visiting her at HMP Peterborough.
Mr Tice informed The Solar Connolly was a “political prisoner” – and vowed to introduce “Lucy’s Regulation”, to cease related circumstances of overly harsh punishments if Reform got here to energy.
Saying she was being “manhandled with out provocation”, he informed The Solar: “Lucy has bruises on her wrists, 5 days on from being violently manhandled by a gaggle of aggressive guards who compelled her right into a wing riddled with medicine and violent girls.
“Two prisoners have died there within the final 12 months.
“She was presupposed to be within the enhanced wing for good behaviour. One thing very flawed has occurred.”