Lucy Connolly appeal Rejected

Ms Connolly sent an absolutely appalling message, inviting racist actions against migrants hostels. Later that day a hostel was set on fire. It was a heightened time due to the Southport tragedy, where a migrant was being blamed, of course totally incorrectly. Her post was ill judged and she deserves to be in jail. Stephen Yaxley Lennon (who styles himself as Tommy Robinson to appeal to his underclass supporters) is a totally different case. I'd happily leave him in prison on a whole life tariff, as his words fuel racist attacks and murders.

I am with you on this. We have a two tier justice system in the UK. Whatever happened to the core principle of criminal justice - 'let the punishment fit the crime'? This was a woman partly triggered by her previous trauma of losing a child.
There are many 'do-gooders' commenting on her who forget that at the end of the day humanity is an imperfect state of being and we have ALL said things previously at some point that we later lived to regret.
It will be very interesting to see what sort of sentence former Labour councillor Ricky Jones gets later in the summer for calling for 'throats cut' of Southport protestors.

Wyllow3

Found the additional information on www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/20/jailed-wife-of-ex-tory-councillor-loses-sentence-appeal-over-southport-tweet

Exactly this.

Wyllow3

It is a 31 month sentence, so 40% of that time is 12.4 months. She will be out in just over 4 months. The judgment was made on the basis of no new evidence. After a string of racist abuse posts she ended up saying

“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f**** hotels full of the b***** for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”

She should serve those remaining months, poisonous and murderous racist hate spread on the internet have no place in a decent society.

I'm aware there is an opinion that "hurty words" are somehow not significant because they are tweets not spoken aloud, but they do matter just as much, imagine if we allowed it and it became commonplace to threaten each other in this manner?

What message does it give to young people to permit it?

Quite agree… she was inciting violence and if someone had done exactly that, inspired by her post, we’d be looking at mass murder of immigrant men women and children, and who knows maybe innocent bystanders!
I’m given to a rant about the egregious Trump, but never have I suggested his home be set on fire!
She should serve her set term!

Found the additional information on www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/20/jailed-wife-of-ex-tory-councillor-loses-sentence-appeal-over-southport-tweet

Primrose53

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/16/lucy-connolly-poses-no-risk-to-anyone-let-her-go/

I could not believe my ears when I heard this today. I think she has served more than enough time in prison and should definitely not serve another 8 months there.

Far more dangerous people are being released early on tags. Why can’t she?

People like the ghastly Huw Edwards get suspended sentences for far worse crimes.

I notice that £87,000 has been crowd funded for her family so far as this has made their future far from secure. I will donate because I feel she has been punished enough.

Donating huge amounts of money. Great message to send those with such hatred in their hearts. Carry on inciting because crowd funding will come up with a hefty payday. Not from me they won't.

Hello MissRedd. I appreciated your post not least because I have family in the USA and have travelled fairly extensively there.
I agree with you that what is happening in both countries is very worrying.
You might be interested in the book ‘There’s nothing for you here’ by Fiona Hill. She was born in a deprived area of north-east England but went to university in Scotland and then Harvard. She worked at the White House under Trump and testified against him before Congress. Her book is mainly about the loss of opportunity in the de-industrialised areas of both countries and the political consequences - the surge of far-right ideology, with support for Trump in the US and for Reform here.
It’s all a far cry from my youth when we had liberal values of tolerance, equality of opportunity and respect for others.

More has come out.

Since she said in her post she knew it was racist, she had a history of racist posts. Before she took down the post it had been viewed 310.000 times - was a post on her X account, she must have had a "following" existing to attract such a readership.

The court also heard the following:

"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 arse lol”. She also said she would “play the mental health card” if arrested, and would deny responsibility for the post if asked.

Naeem Valli, prosecuting, said Connolly, who had no previous conviction, also sent a message saying she intended to work her notice period as a childminder “on the sly” despite being deregistered.

She sent another tweet commenting on a sword attack that read: “I bet my house it was one of these boat invaders.”

Now she has had great sorrow in her life as she'd lost a child herself but was clearly very self aware that she was really pushing the envelope deliberately when you read the further statements.

And choosing - or being persuaded to take it to court - meant these all came out, including her intention to work on the sly with children.

Surely a better option for her and her family would have been to gather a support network around her and the family instead of all it coming out and losing £££ on lawyers after a guilty plea?

JRTW2

You think her and her child should be separated for a tweet?

She should have had her child foremost in her mind when she thought of sending that tweet.
The Government, whatever party it is, cannot allow such riots to go unpunished.
It must have been frightening for people living in those areas caught up in the violence of it all. Tweets like hers fuelled the fire. Can't do the time, don't do the crime. Simple.

If we let people out of prison because the criterion was they pose no risk to others- it’s unlikely we’d need a prison building program. Do the crime and serve the time

But isn't this precisely why we need to build more prisons in the first place. Because those who pose no harm to society are locked up willy nilly? Maybe they are the ones who should be released or should never have been sentenced to prison in the first place. There must be a better way of dealing with them.

JRTW2

You think her and her child should be separated for a tweet?

Yes. Being a mother should not give anybody the sanction to get away with doing something for which other people would be imprisoned - even more so if they try to play the judicial system as she did. I do feel sorry for her poor child having her for a mother though.

Do you know her personally?

Remember when so called Comedienne Jo Brand said she wished the woman who threw milkshake over Nigel Farage had thrown battery acid over him. That was a truly disgraceful thing to say but she got away with it. Almost a national treasure. This really is two tier policing.

Well I can’t stand Jo Brand, just for the record.
Another notable one was John McDonnell saying he wished he could travel back in time so he could assassinate Mrs Thatcher.
He then tried to pass this off as a ‘joke’.

When people in the public eye say these things with impunity it’s hardly surprising that some of the general public think it’s acceptable.
Having said that, I have no sympathy for Lucy Connolly at all. I think there should be some legal means to prevent her family accepting any donations.

JRTW2

You think her and her child should be separated for a tweet?

No , what I think is she is a racist who was inciting violence.

That 24 hours or so was absolutely terrifying for many.

What she did in spreading racial hatred (on a completely uniformed basis ) is illegal. It wasn’t a one off comment in a moment of upset , she continued with the hate speech. If she had admitted her mistake her sentence would have been lighter. I wouldn’t donate a single penny to her appeal.

She said she wouldn’t care if the place was burnt to the ground

GN's on here were mostly up in arms over the riots and wanted Sir Keir to make an example of those responsible for inciting the violence and to make sure the sentences were deterrents for future riots on our streets.
Others have been jailed for similar tweets so why not her?

www.refugee-action.org.uk/fires-dont-happen-in-a-vacuum/
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgpgzxer3jo

How would people feel if someone set fire to Lucy's home? What about the children who were traumatised by these incidents? We have laws in this country which say you do not burn down other peoples homes, or incite other people to
do so. What if she incited people to burn down kennels with dogs in it? Would that have been OK, for people who think inciting violence against asylum seekers is a small crime?

You think her and her child should be separated for a tweet?

I'll be forthcoming here. I am a dual citizen of the US and UK. I have lived here since 2009.

When I left the US, it was a much different country and time. When I see anything at all that smacks of what I am seeing in the country of my birth, having to do with racism/ out and out hatred of human beings, I feel a deep and stabbing reaction.

Don't forget, the US started in the same way. Testing the waters. Trying "it" out. Then they went on to "Well that's our right to free speech".

Except, they didn't realise that with their free speech, comes our freedom to not be accepting of what they have done or who they are. Somehow, they don't understand we are entitled to this same freedom.

It is so very insidious how these things creep in and the interesting way in which it is then converted into the minds of each individual, thus leaving us with whatever output they manufacture.

It's a study in horror, for me. But again, that is because I cannot help but see what went on in the US and how easily that could be picked up here.

When I first moved here, I would have said "It will NEVER be like that here. No way. The people are far to educated and have set of strong principles to which they abide by.

Now...well, it's watch and see. And it's hope and hold my breath that it doesn't find a way to breach the gates, here.

Though, as I said, there are some beginning signs I am feeling very worried about.

I hope I've not overstepped myself here. I joined long ago and just recently realised I had a place here and was hopeful to be part of the group.

Many thanks to all,

MissRedd.

I’m sure they would prefer to have her home

A vile post. I have no sympathy for her.

I can't for the life of me see why goading a mob into burning a building housing women and children is " hurty words"

I've read reports the reasons they are not so comfortably off is the amount they spent on lawyers to mount this appeal. (although its unclear whether the Free Speech Union contributed to them or just urged them on)

They were badly advised by these lawyers, given the sentencing guidelines, as she pleaded guilty-

Now she has 4 months left if released after 40% of her sentence.

I think it's now being used as a "political football" by the "hurty words" crew instead of the clearly needed discussion on "where the line gets drawn".

A high court judge was interviewed on the tiday programme this morning who explained the fine details of sentencing.
We who are not judges don’t know what these are, suffice to say the judge said the sentencing was more lenient than it coukd have been.
As for crowdfunding of nearly £ 100;000 fir what appears to be a comfortably off woman is rather beyond me.