Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for inciting racial hatred in the aftermath of the Southport terror attack, has been released from prison.
Connolly, the wife of Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly, was freed on Thursday morning after being ordered to serve 40% of her 31-month prison sentence.
She had posted on X on the day of the murder of three children by Axel Rudakubana in Southport: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material on X and was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court in October last year.
Her sentence has been criticised as being too harsh, but Sir Keir Starmer defended it earlier this year.
The Prime Minister was asked in May about Connolly’s case after her Court of Appeal application against her jail term was dismissed.
Asked during Prime Minister’s Questions whether her imprisonment was an “efficient or fair use” of prison, Sir Keir said: “Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country.
“I am strongly in favour of free speech, we’ve had free speech in this country for a very long time and we protect it fiercely.
“But I am equally against incitement to violence against other people. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.”
Connolly’s post was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
Lord Young of Acton, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said: “The fact that Lucy Connolly has spent more than a year in prison for a single tweet that she quickly deleted and apologised for is a national scandal, particularly when Labour MPs, councillors and anti-racism campaigners who’ve said and done much worse have avoided jail.
“The same latitude they enjoyed should have been granted to Lucy.”
