The wife of a Tory councillor has admitted to publishing written material intended to incite racial hatred following the Southport stabbings.
Childminder Lucy Connolly, appearing via video link from HMP Peterborough, pleaded guilty to making the post about asylum seekers at Northampton Crown Court, after previously being arrested and re-arrested in the first half of August. She posted on her X account, later deleted, stating: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the bastards for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.”
Connolly wrote the post on the day of the knife attack in Southport, Merseyside, where a group of children attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class were attacked. False information claiming the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker spread online and led to riots across the UK. Three young girls were killed in the attack on 29 July, while eight other children and two adults were injured.
Connolly, from Northampton, later apologised for acting on “false and malicious” information and appeared to have subsequently deleted her X account. She is the wife of Conservative West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly. Speaking outside the court, he said he was “relieved” it was over as it had been “traumatic” for his wife and three children.
Mr Connolly described her as “an upset housewife” and “just a middle-aged mother” who had been drawn into the situation by misinformation spreading online. “The stuff I hear is not really Lucy, she’s probably the opposite of what she’s having to admit to, but she knows she’s overstepped the mark and there’s consequences for it,” he said. “Hopefully she’ll be able to learn from this and move on with her life.”
Mr Connolly added that their son had died, so when his wife sees any child being harmed, “she will kick off”. He also mentioned that she feels the “Tory tag” is unfair but “she will cope with whatever they throw at her, she’s got strong resilience, she’ll come back a bigger person.”
Their son, Harry, died aged 19 months in 2012 from dehydration after a series of basic errors by NHS medics, an inquest found. His parents had taken the toddler to hospital with severe diarrhoea and vomiting, where he was wrongly diagnosed with a stomach upset and sent home. When they returned two days later, medical staff turned them away. Later, a GP failed to diagnose the real problem, and Mr Connolly woke up at 4am to find Harry not breathing.
People accused of violence or inciting violence during the riots have been fast-tracked through the justice system.
Boy, 12, has sentencing adjourned for role in Manchester disorder after mum goes to Ibiza on holiday
A court has postponed the sentencing of a 12-year-old involved in the riots and disorder in August after his mother went on holiday to Ibiza.
Towns and cities across the UK experienced outbreaks of violence after three girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July. The boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, admitted to being part of a group that attacked a bus outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manchester on 31 July. He was also involved in kicking the windows of a vape shop and throwing a missile at a police van in Manchester city centre on 3 August.
The boy attended Manchester Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on two counts of violent disorder, accompanied by his uncle, but his mother was absent, having flown away for a five-day holiday. District Judge Joanne Hirst was informed that the boy’s mother would return on Thursday, the day before his court appearance.
Speaking on Monday, the judge said: “One day before the hearing, we learn that the mother has gone on holiday and is not with her son, who played a greater part in the recent civil disorder than any adult or child I’ve seen coming through these courts. I’m frankly astonished. I will require a full explanation from the mother on her decision to go on holiday one day before her 12-year-old son comes to court facing a potential custodial sentence. This is a serious situation, it has now been adjourned.”
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