Tory councillor's wife jailed after tweet calling for attack on asylum hotels

Lucy Connolly, the wife of West Northamptonshire Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly, was jailed on October 17 at Birmingham Crown Court for 31 months for inciting racial hatred on X on the day of the Southport attacks in late July.

Connolly, 41, a childminder, had taken to the social media platform, formerly Twitter, to call for hotels housing migrants to be set on fire in the wake of the murders of three girls in Southport.

In the message, later deleted, she said: "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."

Her remarks were viewed 310,000 times, as noted by the Recorder of Birmingham Judge Melbourne Inman KC upon passing sentence on Connolly.

Her social media post came after the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29. In the aftermath of the killing, false information falsely alleging the perpetrator was a Muslim asylum seeker spread online, leading to unrest in cities and towns across Britain.

The woman from Northampton later apologised for acting on "false and malicious" information.

Connolly pleaded guilty to publishing written material to stir up racial hatred. She had been remanded in prison since her first hearing on 10 August.

Speaking following her guilty plea, her husband said that his wife understood what she had done and regretted it.

Mr Connolly said: "She knows that she overstepped the mark and there is consequences for it. Hopefully she'll be able to learn from this and move on with her life."

Mr Connolly declined to comment as he left the court on Thursday.

Passing sentence, the judge 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."

After noting that Connolly's post on X inciting attacks on hotels had been viewed 310,000 times, the judge added: "When you published those words you were well aware how volatile the situation was. That volatility led to serious disorder where mindless violence was used."

The 41-year-old, who appeared via a video link from HMP Peterborough, was ordered to serve 40 percent of her 31-month sentence in prison before being released on licence.

This comes amid a series of strict sentences taken by authorities in the wake of this summer's UK riots.