Lucy Connolly Loses Appeal Over Controversial Social Media Post
The post by the former Tory councillor’s wife was made just hours after the Southport child murders.
The post by the former Tory councillor’s wife was made just hours after the Southport child murders.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the 31-month jail sentence handed to Lucy Connolly, the wife of a former Conservative councillor, for a social media post made on the day of the Southport child murders.
Connolly, 48, from Northampton, was sentenced in October 2024 after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred. She had posted a message on X calling for “mass deportation” and suggesting asylum hotels be set on fire.
Her legal challenge against the sentence was rejected by senior judges, who found “no arguable basis” for reducing it.
The post was made on July 29, 2024, just hours after the fatal stabbing of three girls at a holiday club in Southport by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
Connolly wrote, “Mass deportation now. Set fire to all the [expletive] hotels full of the [expletive] for all I care… if that makes me racist, so be it.”
It was viewed over 310,000 times in under four hours before being deleted. Connolly was arrested on Aug. 6.
She was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred. Appeal Dismissed In a written ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde said, “There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive.”
He added that the appeal was “substantially based on a version of events put forward by the applicant which we have rejected.” Mr. Justice Goss and Mr. Justice Sheldon concurred.
During an appeal hearing last week, Connolly gave evidence via video link from HMP Drake Hall.
She said she had been “angry and distressed” by the Southport killings and that the deaths had resurfaced grief over her own son, who died 14 years ago.
Her barrister, Adam King, argued that she did not intend to incite violence and deleted the post voluntarily. He said Connolly misunderstood the implications of her guilty plea, believing it did not require her to admit intent. FSU, Family Reaction Connolly’s case has drawn the backing of the Free Speech Union (FSU), which described the ruling as “deeply disappointing” and called the sentence “plainly disproportionate.”
In a statement, the FSU said, “Two-and-a-half years for a single tweet is grossly disproportionate and it should trouble anyone who believes the law must be applied evenly, without fear or favour.
“Lucy should be at home with her family — not locked up in jail while her husband, Ray, battles bone marrow failure and her 12-year-old daughter is struggling to cope without her mother,” the FSU added.
The group highlighted sentencing comparisons, including a 28-month term handed to a man involved in a racially motivated attack on a mosque during the unrest following the Southport attacks.
FSU General Secretary Lord Toby Young added: “This is terribly disappointing. How can it be right for Lucy to have been condemned to spend more than two-and-a-half years in jail for a single tweet when members of grooming gangs who plead guilty to the sexual exploitation of children get lower sentences?”
Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London in an undated file photo. Yui Mok/PA
Raymond Connolly, Lucy’s husband and a former West Northamptonshire councillor, said he was “heartbroken” by the appeal outcome.
“My wife has paid a very high price for making a mistake and today the court has shown her no mercy,” he said.
In his statement, he said his wife was the victim of “two-tier justice.”
“Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she will release 40,000 prisoners, some of them dangerous men on tag. Lucy has not been allowed out on tag and she has been denied leave to see our child who is struggling. Today, the Court had the opportunity to reduce her cruelly long and disproportionate sentence, but they refused. That feels like two-tier justice,” he added. Southport Tragedy and National Unrest Rudakubana, a British-born teenager of Rwandan descent, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years for the murder of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice da Silva Aguiar. Ten others were injured in the July attack.
The killings sparked unrest across multiple cities including Southport, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and London.
A review by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) later found no organised far-right involvement in the disturbances, attributing the unrest instead to a mix of socioeconomic and political factors.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer labelled the riots “far-right thuggery,” while HMICFRS warned against oversimplifying the motivations behind the disorder.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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