Childminder jailed for inciting racial hatred is released from HMP Peterborough as two-tier justice row continues
Lucy Connolly is walking free from prison today after serving more than nine months behind bars for a racist tweet posted during last summer’s Southport riots. The 42-year-old mother and former childminder is being released from HMP Peterborough after completing 40 per cent of her 31-month sentence for inciting racial hatred.
Her husband Ray, who previously served as a Tory councillor for West Northamptonshire Council and now sits on Northampton Town Council, confirmed the news to the Chron when asked if Lucy was due out soon. The release comes amid fierce debate over what critics call “two-tier justice” in Britain, with the case attracting international attention including monitoring by the White House.
Connolly was jailed in October after admitting to publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred following the Southport attacks that left three young girls dead. She had posted on X on the day of the murder of three children by Axel Rudakubana in Southport: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
The inflammatory post was viewed 310,000 times in just three-and-a-half hours before Connolly deleted it. She was arrested eight days later on 6 August, by which point she had removed her social media account entirely. However, other messages, which included further racist remarks, were uncovered by police officers who seized her phone.
Political prisoner claims spark fierce debate
The case has become a lightning rod for controversy, with senior Conservative politicians and Reform UK leaders claiming Connolly is a victim of political persecution. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Lucy Connolly is a victim of a politicised two-tier justice system in Starmer’s Britain. She should not be in prison.”
Lord Young of Acton, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said: “The fact that Lucy Connolly has spent more than a year in prison for a single tweet that she quickly deleted and apologised for is a national scandal, particularly when Labour MPs, councillors and anti-racism campaigners who’ve said and done much worse have avoided jail.
The controversy intensified when it emerged that Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, personally signed off the prosecution of Lucy Connolly. Critics argue this demonstrates political interference in the justice system, though supporters maintain the law was correctly applied.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended the sentence, stating he is “strongly in favour of free speech”, but is “equally against incitement to violence against other people. When questioned about the case in May after Connolly’s appeal was rejected, the prime minister said he was against “incitement to violence against other people”, when asked about Connolly’s case by Rupert Lowe, the Independent MP for Great Yarmouth.
Prison ordeal raises serious concerns
Connolly’s time in custody has been marked by controversy, with allegations of harsh treatment emerging in recent months. Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK, met Lucy Connolly at HMP Peterborough on Tuesday morning. I had informed Tice that, last Thursday, Lucy says she was manhandled by up to six prison officers to a wing which houses the most volatile and dangerous prisoners.
Tice, who visited Connolly at HMP Peterborough, said the former childminder has been “stripped of privileges by prison officers”. The mother-of-two was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison last year for a tweet she posted in the wake of the Southport murders.
According to reports, “Lucy has not been granted any rights to temporary leave on compassionate grounds, and regrettably, she is the victim of political intervention in our justice system.” These allegations have fuelled claims that Connolly has been treated more harshly than other prisoners.
“Five days after the incident, the bruises from the handcuffs on Lucy’s wrists are still significant – yellow. It was obviously horrible what she went through,” Tice told me just after he emerged from the jail.
International pressure mounts
The case has attracted attention from across the Atlantic, with A spokesman for the state department said: “We can confirm that we are monitoring this matter.” This intervention follows broader concerns about free speech in the UK raised by the Trump administration.
Lord Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, which helped fund Connolly’s appeal, said: “This is the third national humiliation in a week under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership. Has it really come to this? That the US government now has to monitor human rights abuses in the United Kingdom?
The case has also prompted parliamentary action, with Connolly, 41, was locked up at HMP Peterborough in October after being found guilty of inciting “racial hatred”. In the aftermath of Axel Rudakubana’s Southport murders, the mum wrote “mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******** for all I care” on social media, before deleting it a few hours later.
And now, she has been invited to attend a Westminster debate on a landmark petition to review the possible penalties for social media posts. Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has confirmed After consulting Connolly’s family, Lowe said he was “pleased” to confirm that she would be in attendance as a guest of honour.
Family’s anguish and public support
Throughout her imprisonment, Connolly’s family has maintained she is not racist but made a terrible mistake in a moment of distress. When asked whether Lucy had expressed regret or felt rehabilitated, Ray said: “She deleted that post after three hours. She was obviously upset that children had been killed. She’s got PTSD, which would trigger that. But unfortunately, Lucy being the wife of a Conservative councillor – that was too juicy an opportunity, I guess.”
The family revealed that The court heard that Connolly’s son died around 14 years ago, and that news of the murders of the children in Southport had caused a resurgence of her anxiety around his death. During her appeal hearing, Connolly testified that when she initially wrote the post she was “really angry, really upset” and “distressed that those children had died” and that she knew how the parents felt.
A fundraising campaign has raised significant support for the family, with At the time of writing, Connolly has raised £80,816 ($108,098.27) through the fundraiser, “Help Lucy Connolly rebuild her shattered life and fight two-tier justice”. A fundraiser launched earlier this year has raised more than £150,000 to support Lucy and her family. Of that, £80,000 has reportedly been transferred to help pay off debts.
Crown Prosecution Service stands firm
Despite the controversy, prosecutors have maintained that Connolly’s conviction was justified. Frank Ferguson, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “Using threatening, abusive or insulting language to rile up racism online is unacceptable and is breaking the law. During police interview Lucy Connolly stated she had strong views on immigration, told officers she did not like illegal immigrants and claimed that children were not safe from them. It is not an offence to have strong or differing political views, but it is an offence to incite racial hatred – and that is what Connolly has admitted doing.”
The CPS also revealed that “The prosecution case included evidence which showed that racist tweets were sent out from Mrs Connolly’s X account both in the weeks and months before the Southport attacks – as well as in the days after.”
Legal precedent sparks wider concerns
The case has raised fundamental questions about online speech and criminal justice in modern Britain. Inciting racial hatred is one of the most serious offences under hate crime legislation, carrying a maximum sentence of seven years.
When Connolly’s appeal was rejected in May, Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Sheldon dismissed the appeal on Tuesday. In a written judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde, said: “There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive.”
The judges also found that in her evidence to them, the judges found Connolly to be “intelligent and articulate”, and they were “unable” to accept that she “entered her guilty plea with no understanding of what it entailed”.
What happens next
As Connolly returns home to her family in Northampton, the debate over her case shows no sign of abating. Asked if Lucy was looking forward to her release and what comes next, he said: “We just have to tidy a few things up and she goes on and rebuilds her life.”
She will serve the remainder of her sentence on licence, meaning she must comply with strict conditions or face being recalled to prison. Any breach of these conditions could see her returned to custody to serve the remainder of her 31-month term.
The case continues to divide opinion, with supporters viewing her as a political prisoner and critics maintaining she was correctly prosecuted for inciting racial hatred. As Britain grapples with questions of free speech, online responsibility and equal justice, Lucy Connolly’s case has become a defining moment in the national conversation about where the boundaries should lie.
Reform UK has announced plans to introduce “Lucy’s Bill” to Parliament, proposing new safeguards against what they see as overly harsh sentences for online speech. Meanwhile, the government maintains that existing laws are necessary to prevent incitement to violence and protect public safety.
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