Wife of conservative city councillor pleads guilty to inciting racial hatred in connection with…

September 2, 2024, 13:06 | Updated: September 2, 2024, 13:12

The wife of a Tory councillor who called on rioters on social media to “set fire to all migrant hotels” has admitted stirring up racial hatred.

Lucie Connolly, the wife of Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly, made the remarks in a tweet hours after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport.

The attack sparked nationwide violence; in recent weeks both rioters and counter-protesters have been brought before the British courts.

Appearing at Northampton Crown Court on Monday, Ms Connolly pleaded guilty to the charges against her.

The 41-year-old called for “immediate mass deportations, as far as I'm concerned you can set fire to all the shitty hotels full of assholes… If that makes me a racist, then so be it.”

“If that makes me a racist, then so be it,” she is said to have typed.

Her sentence will now be announced at Birmingham Crown Court on October 17.

The 41-year-old mother was seen retracting her stance after the comments and later apologized.

“Based on information that I now know to be false and malicious, and in a moment of extreme outrage and emotion, I posted words that I know to be false in every way,” she said after the social media comments were uncovered.

Following her guilty plea on Monday, Judge Adrienne Lucking KC told Lucy Connolly that she would likely be sent to prison when she was sentenced next month.

The judge added that the case would be transferred from Northampton to Birmingham to avoid any possible bias given the local political standing of Connolly's husband.

Judge Lucking said: “The sentence will be decided by the judge next time, but it will probably be a significant custodial sentence.”

“You are currently in custody.”

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Ms Connolly, a childminder from Northamptonshire, added in the now-deleted tweet: “While you're at it, bring on the traitorous government and politicians too.”

Several hotels housing asylum seekers were targeted by far-right “gangs” last week and a growing number of armchair rioters were sentenced to prison for sending messages “inciting racial hatred”.

While in police custody, Ms Connolly wore a pink jumper and spoke only to confirm she understood the charges at Nottingham Magistrates Court.

She will now appear before Northampton Crown Court. District Judge Rahim Allen-Khimani told her the case was “too serious for this court to deal with”.

She continued: “Now mass deportations, set fire to all the damn hotels full of bastards for all I care. If that makes me a racist, then so be it.”

“It makes me physically sick to think about what these families are going through now. If that makes me a racist, then so be it.”

She has since apologized for her comments, saying she acted on the basis of “false and malicious” information.

Her husband, Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly, said she “shared a stupid, spontaneous tweet out of frustration and quickly deleted it”.

Northamptonshire Police said a 41-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

In a Twitter update on Tuesday evening, Ms Connolly said: “I care deeply about children and the similarity between these wonderful children who were so brutally attacked and my own daughter filled me with horror, but I should not have expressed that horror in this way.

“This was an invaluable lesson for me as it made me realize how false and inaccurate things that appear on social media can be.”