Jailed over a tweet - map shows the areas most plagued by online trolls

Lucy Connolly, of Parkfield Avenue, Northampton, was charged in August with publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred and later pleaded guilty in September.

Her now-deleted tweet, posted on July 29 - the day of the Southport murders - called for mass deportation and suggested setting fire to hotels housing immigrants.

The 41-year-old former childminder, who is married to West Northamptonshire Conservative Councillor Raymond Connolly, was jailed for 31 months.

Passing sentence, the Recorder of Birmingham Judge Melbourne Inman KC said the Southport tragedy had been used by some to “sow division and hatred, often using social media” which had led to “a number of towns and cities being disfigured”.

Connolly is not the only social media user to be arrested and jailed over comments made on social media following the horrific murder of three children in Southport.

In the days that followed violence and disorder swept across the UK, fuelled by misinformation spread online, leading to the director of public prosecutions of England and Wales warning that there were “dedicated police officers who are scouring social media” looking for offences and offenders.

While inciting racial hatred is a more serious offence, crimes of malicious communications - sending an email, social media post, or any message that is grossly indecent or offensive, or intended to cause distress or anxiety - have become increasingly common.

Home Office figures show that these offences soared during the pandemic and lockdowns, and peaked in the year ending March 2022 when there were a record 289,000 offences.

Since then - as life has returned to normal - this type of crime has fallen. There were 275,000 offences in the year ending March 2023, and around 168,000 last year.

Over the last five years, more crimes of malicious communications - many posted online by so-called “keyboard warriors” and “internet trolls” - were recorded in Birmingham than anywhere else in the country (32,000) followed by Leeds (27,000), and Bradford (23,000).

But when compared to the size of the population, this type of offending is far more likely to be recorded in Blackpool.

Over the last five years, there have been nearly 7,000 offences recorded in the seaside resort. That adds up to the equivalent of 48 crime reports for every 1,000 people living in Blackpool.

Next was Bradford (41 crime reports per 1,000 people), and then Wakefield (40) and Calderdale (39) - all areas of West Yorkshire.

You can see how it compares to where you live using our interactive map

When the Malicious Communications Act came into force in 1988, it aimed mainly at poison pen letters.

But the legislation included a clause that made it also an offence to send “an electronic communication or article of any description”, which covers emails and abusive social media posts - a far more common method of sending hate mail in the 21st century.

It can be punished by a maximum sentence of up to a year in prison, a fine, or both.