Former Northampton childminder Lucy Connolly 'released from prison' after serving 10 months for racist tweet
A former Northampton childminder, who was jailed for 31 months for a racist tweet, has been ‘released from prison’ after serving 10 months.
Lucy Connolly has been released from prison today Thursday August 21, Sky News has reported,after serving 40 percent of her sentence in prison, according to her husband Ray Connolly.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred and was sentenced to 31 months in prison at Birmingham Crown Court on October 17, 2024.
The charge relates to a post on X (formerly Twitter) on July 29, 2024, which called for mass deportation and suggested setting fire to hotels housing immigrants – a response to false information that spread following the murder of three girls in Southport. It was viewed 310,000 times, and had 940 retweets, before it was deleted by Connolly around three hours after it was initially posted.
Since the sentencing, there has been an online campaign suggesting that Connolly was exercising free speech and that her sentence was too harsh. However, when Connolly appealed her sentence at the Royal Courts of Justice in May this year, it was rejected by the judge.
Speaking to Chronicle & Echo earlier this month, Ray Connolly who is currently serving as a Conservative town councillor, said: “She regretted it after a few hours. She deleted it. That was the end of it. But eight days later, a couple of local residents had a different opinion about it. Nothing I can do about them.
“The legal thing I always get told is Lucy’s not racist, but the tweet is [because it is] inciting racial hatred. Liam, the solicitor, said it wasn’t about being racist – it was about admitting to racial intent.”
"The only person who’s suffered is our 12-year-old daughter. That’s the only person,” Ray added.
A fundraiser launched earlier this year has raised more than £150,000 to support Connolly and her family. Of that, £80,000 has reportedly been transferred to help pay off debts.
Connolly will serve the rest of her sentence on licence, under the probation service, according to Ray.
Connolly’s post was also shared by 26-year-old father-of-three Tyler Kay, who was sentenced in August to 38 months after admitting to publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred.