EXCLUSIVE Inexplicable: Just why do authorities refuse to release this mother imprisoned for her moment of madness racist Southport tweet?
Hardened criminals can come in many shapes and sizes.
Hardened criminals can come in many shapes and sizes. But, on the face of it, Lucy Connolly appears very far removed from anybody’s idea of a thuggish jailbird.
Until recently, the 42-year-old childminder lived a pretty unremarkable life. Each morning, toddlers would be dropped off at her pleasant 1930s semi on a tree-lined Northampton avenue and she would watch over them as they played in the garden.
Married to Ray, a Conservative member of West Northamptonshire Council, the couple have a 12-year-old daughter – a keen golfer – and enjoy walks with their dog, Harley, a German pointer.
Neighbours last week sung their praises while a friend of Connolly’s told the Mail that she was ‘loved’ by the children in her charge.
They were also known to have had their comfortable suburban life pierced by scarcely imaginable tragedy.
In 2011, they lost their 19-month-old son, Harry. He was found lifeless in bed after they were sent home from Northampton General Hospital, later prompting a fulsome apology after a coroner identified failings in his care. He died of dehydration and acute kidney failure after suffering from an inflammation of the colon, which had not been detected.
Connolly was left with PTSD. Not wishing for his death to be in vain, she helped to set up a charity, Mother’s Instinct, which campaigned for clinicians to listen more carefully to parents’ fears over the health of their children.
Against this backdrop, it is difficult to believe just how different Connolly’s life is today to what it was just a few months ago.
Now, she is a prisoner.
Lucy Connolly called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be burned down in the hours after children were attacked at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside
Lucy Connolly and her husband, Ray. Mr Connolly is campaigning for his wifes release on temporary licence as he has bone marrow failure and their 12-year-old daughter is struggling
Connolly, her husband, Ray, and their daughter, now 12. The family are hoping she will succeed in an appeal against her sentence
As you may already know, in October, Connolly was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), hastily written in the aftermath of the sickening murders of children in Southport, Merseyside, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
The undoubtedly vile missive, targeted at illegal migrants after false information spread in the wake of the murders claimed killer Axel Rudukabana was in the country illegally – he was in fact born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda – said that people should ‘set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the bastards for all I care.’
An abhorrent sentiment? Clearly. Racist? Definitely. Indeed, Connolly pleaded guilty to publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred.
But the length of her sentence, which has seen her locked up alongside murderers, drug dealers and thieves, has in recent days been criticised by former prime ministers, the leader of the Conservative Party and a former home secretary for being unduly harsh. Even Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump, has waded in.
It has been held up as an example of so-called ‘two-tier policing’, with theories abounding, particularly on social media, that the white working-class and those on the right-wing are dealt with more harshly than others.
So how did this suburban childminder find herself serving a 31-month prison sentence? And does the punishment fit the crime?
By July of last year, it was clear that there were two sides to Connolly. One was the outwardly pleasant brunette; the ‘councillor’s wife’.
The other was ‘Lucie’. Using a slightly alternated spelling of her real name, Mrs Connolly was posting regularly to more than 9,000 followers on X. In fact, it would appear that she had become somewhat obsessed with the dopamine-inducing buzz which can be garnered from popularity on social media.
Analysis by the Mail found that between December 2023 and August last year she was posting an average of 3,000 tweets each month – around 100 every day.
Seemingly enjoying her self-appointed role as a right-wing rabble rouser, Connolly would post regular diatribes attacking immigrants, the Labour government, Islam or ‘thick’ people she referred to by a word unprintable in a family newspaper.
She hit out against Channel migrants, who she called ‘illegal boat invaders’, saying they were ‘mostly criminals from third world countries.’
And after a pleasant holiday in Romania she told her followers that one of the main benefits was that it was ‘not full of illegals.’
Her thoughts were seemingly backed and even encouraged by her followers on X, which – particularly since it was purchased by billionaire Tesla boss Musk and sacked moderators – has become a worrying echo chamber for such rage-filled sentiments.
Her behaviour begged the question: while one might have legitimate concerns about illegal immigration – with Connolly particularly angered about people ‘arriving in Britain with no background checks’, according to a friend – why feel it necessary to share such thoughts to a public platform in distinctly unprofessional language? At best, it is ill-advised. With hindsight, it appears stupid and, often, deliberately nasty.
She is being supported in her appeal against her sentence – to be heard next month – by the Free Speech Union. But as Frank Ferguson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said when she was sentenced: ‘It is not an offence to have strong or differing political views, but it is an offence to incite racial hatred.’
It was into this dangerous online world she was inhabiting, on July 29 last year, that Connolly made one post which would change her life forever.
That day, Rudakubana stabbed 13 people in Southport, including eight children. Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, died following the attack.
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar (left to right) were attacked by Axel Rudakubana during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport
Axel Rudukabana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the murders
False rumours swirled that Rudukabana was an illegal migrant.
Into this maelstrom, ‘Lucie’ posted: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them.
‘I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it.’
As we now know – but unbeknown to Connolly at the time of her post – angry men from across the country would indeed attempt to take the law into their own hands.
Realising her hot-headedness after she calmed down while out walking the family dog that evening, Connolly deleted her post within four hours. But by that time it had already been viewed 310,000 times.
In the ensuing riots which followed the Southport murders, hotels housing asylum seekers were indeed targeted by arsonists. Police were attacked. Migrants were vilified in the streets.
And as the government attempted to crack down on the protests, harsh, deterrent sentences were handed down to anybody seen to be inciting the violence.
Realising that she may face punishment for her comments, Connolly told friends that she would play the mental health card if arrested.
On August 12 last year – two weeks after her original post – Connolly appeared at Northampton Crown Court. Despite having no previous convictions, she was denied bail and remanded in custody.
In October, she received that lengthy prison sentence.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Connolly revealed that his wife had been denied release on temporary licence, possibly over concerns about public and media interest in her case.
Last week, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson waded into the debate, telling the Mail that Connolly’s 31-month sentence does ‘huge damage to this country’s global reputation as a haven for free expression’.
She has been eligible for release on temporary licence since November, which allows for up to two overnight home stays each month.
Mr Connolly is suffering from bone marrow failure and their daughter’s behaviour is said to have deteriorated at school – points raised by Connolly in her request for temporary release.
However the Prison Service has indicated that a risk assessment still needs to be carried out to assess Connolly’s suitability for temporary release the program. She is eligible for release from prison after serving 40 per cent of her sentence in custody.
Connolly regularly posted to more than 9,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter)
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and government advisor on extremism in prisons told the Mail it was ‘inexplicable’ her release on temporary licence had been delayed.
‘In my opinion, the tweet was racist,’ he said. ‘It was malignant and dangerous. However, I think she has been exceptionally hard done by.’
He added: ‘She has complied with her sentence so why is she being delayed for temporary release?
‘There is no evidence she poses further risk. It isn’t her fault [that there is media interest in the case] and shouldn’t be relevant anyway.
‘It feels to me a little bit like someone has their thumb on the scales here.’
Mr Acheson said such treatment does little to dispel allegations of ‘two-tier justice’.
‘People will draw conclusions, not unreasonable conclusions, that we have a justice system that will hit low-hanging fruit but will shy away from the more difficult identity-connected offences,’ he said.
‘If you look at far-Right and neo-Fascist groups, that narrative is being talked up and we are providing more ammunition for that.
‘White working-class Britain is being radicalised by what they perceive is behind decision-making in the criminal justice system. This is truly dangerous for community cohesion. The government must address this trust deficit, not simply traduce it as ignorance or bigotry.’
Former prison governor Ian Acheson said: She has complied with her sentence so why is she being delayed for temporary release?
The most obvious criticism levelled at the length of Connolly’s sentence is the apparent disparity between her punitive treatment and lesser sentences handed to, on the face of it, more serious offenders.
Sentencing her, Judge Melbourne Inman KC drew a direct link between her post and the mindless violence which engulfed Britain last summer.
‘As everyone is aware, some people used that tragedy [Southport] as an opportunity to sow division and hatred, often using social media, leading to a number of towns and cities being disfigured by mindless and racist violence, intimidation and damage,’ he said.
But conversely, a month before Connolly’s sentence, the same judge sentenced a teenager who attempted to storm a pub he wrongly believed to contain members of a far-Right group to 20 months – significantly less than Connolly’s sentence.
Terrified customers barricaded themselves inside the Clumsy Swan pub in the Yardley area of Birmingham as Haris Ghaffar, 19, and others wearing balaclavas and carrying knives, tried to get inside, believing that it was housing members of the English Defence League [EDL]. Ghaffar pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Crucially, Connolly’s sentence was aggravated by the racial element to which she pleaded guilty – with her husband claiming she only did so to speed up the process, believing she could be held on remand in prison for months awaiting trial if she pleaded not guilty and she wanted to get home quickly for her daughter.
Similarly, in August, David Engleby, 29, was jailed for two years and four months for taking part in a riot close to Southport’s mosque the day after the murders of the little girls. Video footage played at Liverpool Crown Court showed Engleby and two others, who also received lesser sentences than Mrs Connolly, throwing missiles at police and chanting anti-Islamic slogans.
David Engleby, 29, was jailed for two years and four months for taking part in a riot close to Southport’s mosque the day after the murders of the little girls. Missiles were thrown at police
Away from the riots, in August, 26-year-old Bradley Kynaston, of Wakefield, Yorks, avoided an immediate jail term despite breaking his ex-partner’s arm in an assault.
Kynaston was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years. Even for sexual assaults, suspended sentences are relatively commonplace.
But the severe sentences handed down to Connolly and others like her – Julie Sweeney, who called for a mosque to be ‘blown up with the adults inside, was jailed for 15 months in August – undoubtedly succeeded as deterrents.
As the jail sentences stacked up and Sir Keir Starmer talked tough, the rioting eventually stopped. It was plain to even mindless thugs that such mindless thuggery was not worth a lengthy prison stretch.
Indeed, legal experts have claimed her sentence was just in the circumstances.
One eminent professional said: ‘It is at the top end of what she might have expected but if you send out tweets calling for hotels to be burned down that is quite serious incitement [to violence].’
Another troubling issue about Connolly’s case is that, last year, the government released thousands of prisoners early to ease overcrowding. Lags convicted of offences including grievous bodily harm and kidnap lauded Sir Keir Starmer for the early-release scheme and were pictured celebrating and clambering into waiting Bentleys and BMWs.
At their home in Northampton last week, Mr Connolly refused to go into detail about his wife’s current situation, telling the Mail: ‘There’s so much misinformation out there related to Lucy.
‘She’s been vilified and she’s still in prison, that’s all I’ve got to say.’
But friends and neighbours rallied round the childminder, claiming her sentence was completely disproportionate and that her mindset was affected when she heard of murdered children having lost her own son in tragic circumstances.
Adelle Healy, 42, who has been friends with Connolly for nine years, said: ‘Lucy was horrified and heartbroken that three little girls had been murdered.
‘She let her emotions take over and wrote something that she definitely shouldn’t have done but she has paid a very dear price.
‘She should not be behind bars for a Tweet. I think it’s ludicrous that it’s got to this point. ‘
Lucy Connolly and Adelle Healy. The pair have been friends for nine years. Ms Healy said: She should not be behind bars for a Tweet.
Ms Healy, who works in admin for a car insurance company added: ‘Lucy has forthright opinions and sometimes they can upset people but a lot of her anger is aimed at the government, particularly with unvetted immigration.
‘She was worried about the large number of people arriving in Britain without any background checks. She believes they could pose a threat to national security and a risk to children.
‘As a childminder… all the kids loved her - no matter their background - because she was just so caring and gave a lot back.’
Neighbour Lisa Pitcher, 53, said: ‘Lucy should never have been put inside - not when you have rapists out on bail - and the fact she’s been denied temporary leave is disgusting.
‘She should never have tweeted what she did. She knew that, which is why she deleted it four hours later.
‘I think she reacted with uncontrolled anger when those three little girls were murdered because it brought back awful memories. She knows the pain and heartache of losing a child.’
Ms Pitcher added that Connolly has ‘has forthright views on things’ and is ‘not shy about speaking her mind and sometimes these strong opinions upset people.’
She added: ‘The tweet she was jailed for was wrong and sent in the heat of the moment. She didn’t stop and think. I think her case shames the British judicial system and I think it is political.’
Making her point, she referenced the recent case of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who received a 10-week prison sentence for assault after he punched a constituent, later downgraded to a suspended sentence following an appeal.
‘He actually physically assaulted someone - he did real harm. But it’s one rule for one and one for another,’ she claimed.
Following the backlash to her offending post, Connolly hastily typed up an apology where she said she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the ‘similarity between those beautiful children who were brutally attacked and my own daughter’.
She said she had mistakenly acted on information about the attacker’s identity that she ‘now knows to be false and malicious’.
She added that she ‘should not have expressed that horror in the way I did.’
‘This has been a valuable lesson for me, in realising how wrong and inaccurate things appearing on social media can be, and I will never react in this way again,’ she said.
Connolly had little time to learn the lesson from her mistake, as she was swiftly arrested and her X account was deleted. For at least a little while longer, she will continue to contemplate her mistakes from the confines of a prison cell.