Lucy Connolly, the Northampton childminder and Mother of two who dared to vent her anger on social media walked free from HMP Peterborough last week.
She had been handed a 31-month sentence for ‘stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers’ online in the aftermath of the Southport attacks.
She said she found it “bizarre” that she had been imprisoned for 380 days for what she admitted was not her “finest moment.”
In her first interview since being released, Lucy has insisted that she was punished for her opinions not her words, and has called for reform of Britain’s justice system.
InfoWars reports: The 42-year-old told The Telegraph she was “upset and angry beyond belief” when she wrote the post calling for “mass deportation” and for hotels housing migrants to be burned down. “Of course, it wasn’t my finest moment and I definitely don’t advocate violence or burning anything down,” she said. Connolly deleted the tweet within hours, but by then it had been viewed more than 300,000 times.
Connolly insists she was denied a fair hearing because of political pressure. Days before her arrest, Starmer condemned “far-Right thuggery” and promised those “whipping up” disorder online would “face the full force of the law.” Asked if she considered herself the Prime Minister’s prisoner, she replied: “Absolutely. Me and several other people.”
She added:
I think with Starmer he needs to practise what he preaches. He’s a human rights lawyer, so maybe he needs to look at what people’s human rights are, what freedom of speech means, and what the laws are in this country.
Her trial and sentence drew widespread criticism. Supporters, including the Free Speech Union, argued her words were grossly misjudged but posed no realistic prospect of inciting violence. “Sentencing someone to more than two-and-a-half years in jail for a malign intention is manifestly unjust,” said FSU founder Toby Young.
The case has become emblematic of what many see as a two-tier justice system. Connolly’s supporters point to the contrasting acquittal of Labour councillor Ricky Jones, who told a crowd during the Southport riots, “We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.” Connolly herself commented:
I don’t advocate that we should be throwing anyone in jail for saying something … Does it really make him a criminal? Should we be putting people like him and me in prison? Absolutely not.
Her account of prison life reveals she was singled out for harsh treatment. “They hope they broke me while I was in there, but I’m here to tell you that they didn’t,” she said. She now hopes to campaign for penal reform, arguing that most female inmates posed no threat to the public.
I don’t want to see women being kept away from their children … What a waste of everybody’s time and money.
Connolly, who lost her first child Harry in 2011 due to NHS failures, said her grief intensified her visceral reaction to the Southport murders. “How have three children gone off to a dance class and their parents never get to pick them up again? I do know how that feels because I’ve lost a child.”
Despite being branded a racist, Connolly maintains she has no issue with immigrants, stressing: “A child is a child. It doesn’t matter what colour they are. It’s our job as a country to protect our children.” She accuses police of dishonesty in misrepresenting her stance and is now considering legal action.
Her release has energised a growing movement concerned about free speech restrictions in Britain. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hailed her as “a symbol of Keir Starmer’s authoritarian, broken, two-tier Britain.”
For Connolly, however, the priority is rebuilding family life with her daughter. “I will continue to fight,” she vowed, “to hopefully make people listen … and to help reform the system – by somebody that’s been there and lived it. And survived to tell the tale.”