Last week, Lucy Connolly failed in her attempt to have her 31-month sentence for inciting racial hatred overturned, following Axel Rudakubana’s senseless attack on a Taylor-Swift themed dance class in Southport on July 29, which killed three young girls.
Despite widespread support for her imprisonment among the commentariat, I believe she is a political prisoner, subjected to a two-tier justice system. She was targeted in a brutal response by the state, which, in a frantic attempt to suppress the riots and ‘far right thuggery’ that erupted in various towns and cities across England last August, aimed to set an example with her case.
When news of this shocking event broke, there was a notable lack of details. Only a small amount of information was made available to the public. With online rumours suggesting that the perpetrator was an immigrant and comments highlighting the escalating expenses of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels, Connolly, like many others, felt emotional and chose to express herself on social media. She posted a tweet to her 10,000 followers saying:
“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it.”
The post was live for less than fours before she decided to delete it. By this point, her message had been viewed 310,000 times, re-shared by hundreds and others had taken screenshots of her message. On the August 6th, 2024, she was arrested and charged with distributing material intended to stir up racial hatred.
The tweet was posted a few hours after Rudakubana’s brutal act. At that time, the riots hadn’t started yet, and the appalling attacks on migrant hotels didn’t commence until the following weekend. However, on October 17th, Judge Melbourne Inman sentenced Connolly to 31 months for “inciting serious violence.”
During her appeal, Connolly conveyed feeling “angry, upset and distraught” over the death of young children and expressed her inability to comprehend how such a horrific event could happen. Connolly knew about the pain of losing a child as she and her husband Ray, a Conservative local councillor, had lost their 19-month-old son, Harry, in 2011. This experience had left them feeling betrayed by the systemic failings of the NHS, resulting in a deep-seated mistrust of governmental institutions. Her feelings of distress and anger were justified. For many years, numerous towns and cities that experienced riots—including Rotherham, Hull, Blackpool—were torn apart by the evil of grooming gangs. These are deprived areas that have undergone rapid demographic and cultural change, due to uncontrolled immigration.
We have all sent fired-up messages when feeling annoyed and frustrated, only later to realise they might have been excessive. For example, during the appeal, she admitted, “I’d calmed down—I knew it wasn’t an acceptable thing to say or the right thing to say.” Though her words were harsh, that’s the nature of free expression. Freedom involves living in a world where individuals can say things that might upset you. It should go without saying but we shouldn’t imprison people for holding views that others consider offensive.
Free speech is in a terrible state in Britain. According to The Times of London, police are arresting over thirty people per day for offensive posts on social media platforms. This largely stems from section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, which criminalises the spread of “grossly offensive” messages online.
We are witnessing the anarcho-tyranny of the British state. Kurdish immigrant Brwa Shorsh received a life sentence for pushing a man in front of a moving train, even though he had previously been convicted twelve times for twenty-one offences, including multiple assaults and public indecency. In Britain we often show leniency to habitual criminals, while cracking down on those who violate progressive shibboleths and our draconian speech laws. Indeed, Lucy will serve more time in prison than some individuals convicted in the Telford grooming gang scandal.
Connolly is not the only person to have been imprisoned over a trivial reason. During the riots, Peter Lynch shouted racist remarks at a protest in Rotherham that subsequently escalated into violence. The 61-year-old grandfather was sentenced to two years and eight months for violent disorder in August 2024. In October, he was found hanging in his prison cell.
I believe Connolly is imprisoned because of her political views. Both Connolly and Lynch embody an ideology, particularly nationalism, which poses a threat to the stability of elite power. It seems the state may overlook certain beliefs—Islamism, Gaza activism and radical environmentalism—while excessively policing and restricting right-wing ones. Take Adam Smith-Connor, the army veteran convicted and given a two-year suspended sentence for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in 2022. Those who speak are dealt with more heavily than those who resort to violence. For instance, when Mike Amesbury, a Labour politician, was caught on camera punching a constituent, he was given a ten-week suspended sentence.
In an era when we are releasing prisoners because of extreme overcrowding, including those guilty of serious violent offences, this is shameful. That a 42-year-old mother has been jailed for the crime of typing a foolish and remorseful post is a condemnation of our ideologically-biased, hypocritical legal system. As of now, Connolly has spent 288 days unable to be with her husband and 12-year-old daughter. That is the real crime.