8 hours ago
8
Martin Heath
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire Police
Lucy Connolly called for "mass deportation" and hotels housing migrants to be set on fire on a social media account
A Conservative councillor's wife who was jailed for inciting racial hatred after an online rant against migrants on the day of the Southport attacks has had her appeal against her sentence dismissed.
Lucy Connolly, from Northampton, was jailed for 31 months in October after calling for "mass deportation now" and urging her followers on X to "set fire" to hotels housing asylum seekers.
The tweet was viewed 310,000 times before it was deleted.
Judges at the Court of Appeal have now ruled that "there is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive".
Connolly posted the swearword-ridden message on 29 July 2024 - the day three girls were murdered at a dance class in Southport.
While calling for "mass deportations now", the 41-year-old childminder wrote: "If that makes me racist, so be it."
She urged readers to "set fire" to "all the hotels" that were "full" of those she wished to deport.
The post had been deleted before Connolly was arrested on 6 August but it had already been viewed 310,000 times.
She was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred and told that she would serve 40% of her sentence in prison before being released on licence.
Giving a written judgment on Tuesday, three Court of Appeal judges said Connolly's principal ground of appeal "was substantially based on a version of events put forward by the applicant which we have rejected".
PA Media
At the Appeal Court hearing last week, Ray Connolly said he hoped his wife would be out of prison soon
Connolly's husband rejected a call from a local MP for his resignation from West Northamptonshire Council, but lost his seat in this year's local elections as Reform UK took control of the unitary authority.
He is still a member of Northampton Town Council.
After Tuesday's appeal court decision, he issued a statement saying he was "heartbroken" his wife's appeal had been dismissed.
"My wife has paid a very high price for making a mistake and today the court has shown her no mercy," he added.
He went on to say that "the 284 days of separation" had been "very hard, particularly on our 12-year-old girl".
"Lucy posted one nasty tweet when she was upset and angry about three little girls who were brutally murdered in Southport," he said.
"She realised the tweet was wrong and deleted it within four hours.
"My wife Lucy is a good person and not a racist. As a childminder she took care of small children of African and Asian heritage; they loved Lucy as she loved them."
