Northampton man Tyler Kay jailed after threatening to burn down asylum hotel using his own name and picture on Twitter – and tagging Northants Police

Tyler James Kay was before the county’s resident judge, Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking this morning (Friday, August 9) after admitting publishing written material to stir up racial hatred at a magistrates’ court hearing yesterday.

In court he said that it was an act of stupidity and said he did it because he ‘wanted to impress some random person on the internet’.

The prosecution had to be ratified by the attorney general ahead of today’s hearing.

Kay, who formerly worked as an IT team leader, wrote an offensive anti-immigration post on X on Wednesday (August 7) calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

He tweeted his support for wife of West Northamptonshire councillor Ray Connolly, Lucy Connolly, who allegedly posted hateful messages earlier this week. This is the subject of an ongoing police investigation. He admitted copying and pasting the message that she had been arrested for and posting it himself on X.

His message said: “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.”

The father-of-three used his own name and profile picture, openly talked to people about where he lived and said during an attack he would use ‘gloves, no car either so no number plate to trace, and a change of clothes ready nearby,’ adding that he ‘watched enough CSI programmes’.

He gave other people advice on ‘staying anon’ and said he would ‘categorically not be arrested’ by Northants Police, before actually tagging the force in one of his tweets.

He used the hashtags #standwithlucyconnolly, #farageriots, #riotsuk and #f***northamptonshirepolice

People on his X account even warned him he would be jailed and he said ‘For what? Sharing a screenshot? You’re delusional buddy’.

The 26-year-old also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton – the site of Wednesday’s planned disorder – with the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ Other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.

Sadly for Kay, his X profile was followed by Northamptonshire Police and several other force accounts.

Kay, of Ellfield Court, was arrested by officers from Northamptonshire Police, and appeared at Northamptonshire Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday, August 9).

He pleaded guilty to publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred and his case was expedited for sentence today at crown court.

He appeared this afternoon with a cut to his nose, a bruised eye and wearing a creased red t-shirt.

Although he admitted that his actions may have been ‘likely’ to stir up racial hatred, given the mood around the country, Kay denied that it had been his intention to do so.

He was called to the witness box to explain why he sent the messages.

He said: “I disagreed with Lucy Connolly being arrested. I think we should be able to share what we want. I didn’t think anything further than that.”

When asked why he shared the location of a planned protest in Northampton he said that he hadn’t intended to attend it. He said: “I retweeted it because it was in Northampton. I shared it because it was relevant to my followers.

"It was a simple act of stupidity. I wanted to sound smart. I wanted to impress some random person on the internet.”

He said he didn’t want anything to do with the protests and said he was ‘happy’ to be part of multicultural Northampton.

Prosecuting, Naeem Valli asked Kay whether he had been following the news around the riots.

He denied that he had been closely watching the news and said that he hadn’t known that the hotel in Rotherham that had been attacked by arsonists housed asylum seekers.

Kay said of his post about mass deportation: “I wouldn’t have posted it myself. If this is Lucy’s opinion then she should be able to express it.”

Mr Valli asked why he didn’t put any form of caveat on the tweet to explain the context.

"With hindsight I wish I had done, I didn’t have time to think” said Kay.

Mr Valli said: “But you had time to add hashtags, didn’t you?”

He said he posted the tweets advertising the proposed riot in Kettering Road to let his followers know it was happening, and said he wasn’t encouraging anyone to go.

Asked by Mr Valli why he’d posted the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ alongside the location, and whether he was going to attend, he replied: “I wanted to be able to see what was going on with my own eyes. I was raised as a child not to believe everything that was on the internet.”

"You knew very well what you were doing,” said Mr Valli.

Mitigating Will Forber-Heyward said that his client was ‘making a political statement’.

"He did not intend to stir up racial hatred,” he said.

He said he was remorseful for the posts and the harm that he had caused both locally and nationally. He said his client had grown up in care and was a victim of domestic abuse.

Her Honour rejected the basis of plea, saying that Kay was ‘intelligent, articulate and media savvy’.

She added: “He was evasive about his awareness of postings on social media.

"He thought there were no consequences.

"He’s tried to portray himself as naive. I am completely sure he intended racial hatred would be stirred up.”

Sentencing, Judge Lucking said: “Your offending must be seen in the context of the widespread and reported scenes of violence, disorder and criminal damage starting in Southport and spreading to other locations.”

She said he had a ‘fundamentally racist mindset’ and that his posts were ‘utterly repulsive, shocking and have no place in civilised society.’

"You posted as you did because you thought there were no consequences,” added, saying that his posts had ‘widespread dissemination.’

He was given three years and two months in prison and will serve half in prison before being released on licence.

Detective Chief Superintendent Rich Tompkins of Northamptonshire Police said: “I hope this case sends a very clear message to people who think they can hide behind a screen and publish hateful, racially prejudiced posts without consequence.

“This case is not an example of preventing ‘freedom of speech’ as a small minority of people will claim.

“It is about standing up for what is right and protecting our communities from fear of violence. After all, freedom of speech is not freedom to spread racial hatred.

“This week, we have had some really positive engagements with communities across the county, most notably the gathering of people standing against racism in Northampton on Wednesday evening. We stand with our communities and will do everything we can to help them feel safe and protected from crime.”

Rosemary Ainslie, Acting Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “It’s important that I make it absolutely clear – online actions have real consequences.

“Kay wrote about setting fire to hotels and amplified posts advocating action against immigrations solicitors – this online behaviour will not be tolerated.

“He was convicted only a day after he made the social media post, which displays just how quickly offenders such as Kay will be brought to justice.

“The CPS will continue to act swiftly and robustly to tackle such behaviour.

Kay was previously convicted in 2020 after he stole an iphone worth £1,046 from his employer Albion Computers. He was given a community order but failed to comply with it.

His tweets came as rioting broke out around the country, sparked by misinformation pushed by far-right groups around the identity of the alleged Southport attacker. He had been wrongly described as Muslim, leading to widespread violent disorder in many towns across England and Ireland.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised speedy justice for anyone involved with the disorder and most cases have been expedited by courts – which are already under huge pressure.

Northamptonshire Police said Kay’s prosecution was one of the first of its type in the UK and the first in the region to arise from the recent riots.

The press were not notified of yesterday’s magistrates’ court hearing.