The wife of a Conservative councillor who used social media to stir up racial hatred against asylum seekers on the day of the Southport attacks told a WhatsApp user she would “play the mental health card” if she was arrested.
Lucy Connolly was jailed on Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court for 31 months for inciting racial hatred.
The court heard the 41-year-old, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, had posted a message on Twitter/X that read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******s for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.”
Then, a week later, the former childminder sent a WhatsApp message joking the tweet to her 10,000 followers had “bitten me on the arse, lol”.
Prosecutor Naeem Valli said Connolly also sent a message saying she intended to work her notice period as a childminder “on the sly” despite being deregistered.
Mr Valli added: “She then goes on to say that if she were to get arrested she would play the mental health card.”
The recorder of Birmingham, Judge Melbourne Inman KC, said Connolly was “well aware how volatile the situation was” when she posted the tweet, which was viewed 310,000 times in the three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
He said: “That volatility led to serious disorder where mindless violence was used.”
The judge added that Connolly had encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life.
He said of the Southport stabbings: “Some people used that tragedy as an opportunity to sow division and hatred, often using social media, leading to a number of towns and cities being disfigured.”
Connolly was ordered to serve 40 per cent of her 31-month sentence before being released on licence.
Last month she admitted publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred.
The court was told that Connolly, who has no previous convictions, also tweeted a comment on a sword attack which read: “I bet my house it was one of these boat invaders.”
Another post she sent – commenting on a video posted by Tommy Robinson – read “Somalian I guess” and was accompanied by a vomiting emoji.
Connolly appeared before Birmingham Crown Court via a video link to HMP Peterborough.
Liam Muir, defending, said Connolly had lost a child in horrific circumstances and was distinguished from other offenders using social media in that she had sent the tweet at the heart of the case before any violence against asylum seekers had started.
Mr Muir said: “The horrendous way in which she lost her son, being turned away from the health service, can only have a drastic detrimental effect on someone.
“Whatever her intention was in posting the offending tweet, it was short-lived and she didn’t expect the violence that followed, and she quickly tried to quell it.”
Connolly issued an apology for her post before her arrest, saying she had acted on “false and malicious” information about what was behind the stabbing to death of three young girls in Southport in late July.
