Tory councillor's wife jailed for racist Southport tweet is being ‘mistreated' in prison, Reform's Richard Tice claims
THE wife of a Tory councillor who was jailed for making racist tweets in the aftermath of the Southport murders is being "mistreated" in prison, it is claimed.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice says Lucy Connolly has been handcuffed and stripped of her privileges by prison officers.
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Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice
Credit: PA
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Lucy Connolly, who was sentenced to 31 months in prisonfor inciting racial hatred against asylum seekers
Credit: PA
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The childminder published the comments on her X account
Credit: x.com/@LJCJ83
Connolly posted comments on her X account just hours after teenager Axel Rudakubana murdered three girls in the Merseyside town on July 29 last year.
He alleges Connolly - married to Tory Raymond Connolly - is being "manhandled without provocation" after visiting her today at HMP Peterborough.
Mr Tice told reporters: "Five days after the incident, the bruises on her wrists are still significant – yellow. It was obviously horrible what she went through.
"On Thursday, she was manhandled, mistreated with no provocation. She was denied enhanced accommodation to which she was entitled and they gave her, frankly, the Nutters Wild Wing – druggies, violence.
"You have to think it's politically motivated. I think the next few weeks before her release are going to be very challenging, worrying.
"I think it would suit the authorities to want to provoke a violent reaction from Lucy. I told Lucy to be very careful."
He went on to say he met with HMP Peterborough's head of security, explaining: "He is looking at the complaint seriously. When we get the result of that complaint – if they have 'lost' the bodycam footage or any of that funny business then I will escalate the complaint and meet the Governor.
Mr Tice added: "I genuinely fear that she is actually being treated as a political prisoner for political purposes."
Most read in The Sun
Connolly, 41, shared a call to arms following the deaths of Bebe King, six, nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.
Posts wrongly claimed monster
Cardiff
and raised Christian.
Connolly wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care...
"If that makes me racist, so be it."
Riots erupted across the country as thugs clashed with police and targeted
hotels
housing asylum seekers.
After her post, Connolly sent a WhatsApp joking it had "bitten me on the a**e, lol".
She also said if she were to get arrested over it, she would "play the mental
health
card".
She was jailed for 31 months in October after admitting publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred.
Connolly launched a bid against her "harsh" sentence but this was thrown out by Court of Appeal judges in May.
Mr Connolly previously defended his wife after she pleaded guilty - saying the case had been "traumatic" for her and their three children.
He revealed their son died in 2012 after a series of NHS blunders so when his wife sees any child get harmed, "she will kick off".
The councillor also branded Connolly "an upset housewife" and "just a middle aged mother" who got dragged into the situation by misinformation spreading online.
He added: "The stuff I hear is not really Lucy, she's probably the opposite of what she's having to admit to but she knows she's overstepped the mark and there's consequences for it," he said.
"Hopefully she'll be able to learn from this and move on with her life."
Read more on the Irish Sun
Connolly also tried to make a U-turn on her vile comments - claiming she was acting on "false and malicious" information.
But the Crown Prosecution Service said she told police she did not like immigrants in her custody interview.
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Connolly urged rioters to set migrant hotels alight
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The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
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WITH neat, well-tended gardens and neighbours chatting over their picket fences, Biddick Drive feels like a haven of peace in the heart of a bustling city. Yet a terrible shadow has been cast over this seemingly idyllic cul-de-sac - and locals are still struggling to shake off the memories of August 12, 2021, when blood ran in the streets, leaving five dead. 16 Plymouth gunman Jack Davison slaughtered five people in his sickening rampage Credit: Facebook / Jake Davison 16 Davison killed his mother at their home in Biddick Drive, Keyham, before going on a shooting spree down the road Credit: Neil Hope 16 Local resident Victoria White said she never used to worry about locking her door - but does now Credit: Neil Hope It was on that hot, humid evening in Plymouth four years ago that deranged gunman Jake Davison emerged from his 51-year-old mother's terraced house, having Thick-set, his body pumped up through steroid abuse and hours in the gym, he then strolled downhill, spraying locals with rounds from a Weatherby pump-action shotgun as he went. 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In addition to his mum Maxine, victims included three-year-old Sophie Martyn, nicknamed 'Daddy's Princess', her father Lee, 43, shot three times, Stephen Washington, 59, a carer for his disabled wife who was walking his husky dog through nearby parkland, and artist Kate Shepherd, 66, blasted outside a hair salon. 16 Stephen Washington was killed in the Keyham shooting while walking his dog Credit: PA 16 Lee Martyn, 43, and daughter Sophie Martyn, three, were also killed Credit: Tim Stewart 16 The funeral of little Sophie and her father Lee Credit: PA Finally, confronted by unarmed PC Zach Printer, who bravely ran to within 20 metres of the killer shouting for him to stop, 22-year-old Davison turned the gun on himself. Within days, reports emerged of his troubled state of mind. One former teacher told of Davison's unhealthy love of guns. Another had concerns about his anger management. 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Police enquiries showed that, as an adult, he became immersed in the shocking world of incels – a violent online sub-culture dominated by men unable to find love. 16 The scene at Biddick Drive after the tragedy Credit: Chris Eades 16 Local Arthur Beacham said 'Any one of us could have been a victim' Credit: Neil Hope 16 He was out waling his dog on the evening the tragedy unfolded Credit: Neil Hope But apprentice crane driver Davison's mental health background was only one factor in his victims' fate. In concluding that all five were unlawfully killed, an inquest jury pointed to a "catastrophic failure" by Devon and Cornwall Police. Officers granted him a firearms licence in 2018 in the full knowledge that he had assaulted teachers and a fellow student. And although in September 2020 he launched a "ferocious, intense and unprovoked attack" on a teenage boy and 15-year-old girl, he was placed on a "deferred change programme" called Pathfinder instead of facing a court. Davison 'viewed women with contempt' and sympathised with incel culture An inquest heard how Davison spent a lot of time reading and writing about 'incel' culture. The term refers to "involuntary celibates" with the movement labelled a "hate" group as many followers believe they are owed sex by women. Incels believe they have no possibility of finding a partner to get love, validation or acceptance from. In turn, this makes some incels want to strike out at the world because they have been rejected by girls, while others blame attractive men for their perceived problems. The self-confessed black sheep of the family also described himself as "The Terminator" in a slew of "deeply disturbing" posts. He shared posts referring to 'violence, misogynistic views, viewing women with contempt' and "sympathy with incel culture", the inquest was told. He also looked up Ted Bundy and incel serial killers, watched videos on firearms and how to reload them and posted a one minute clip from an online game called KillZone. Jurors heard Davison branded mum Maxine a "dirty insufferable, a vile creature" who was difficult to live with. His firearms licence was seized only in December 2020 after another Pathfinder member tipped off police that it remained valid. Yet it was returned seven months later after an officer decided Davison was "low risk" and his decision – which should have been signed off by a senior colleague – went unchallenged. Today, many Keyham residents cannot understand how laws supposed to protect them from gun crime proved so hopelessly ineffective. On Royal Navy Avenue – the route Davison took as he headed towards his final victim – resident Victoria White, 51, told us: "You think about those who died and their families and wonder how this could ever have happened. "I'd known [victim] Lee for years. 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Devon and Cornwall Police has since made major changes to its firearms licensing unit - more than doubling staffing levels to 99 by 2023, improving training procedures and appointing four senior managers instead of one to assess high-risk decisions. On Biddick Drive itself, there is an understandable reluctance among neighbours to talk about the shootings. The feeling was summed up by 85-year-old Arthur Beacham, out walking his springer spaniel Barney. 16 A photo of the Weatherby pump action shotgun used by Davison next to a standard sporting style 12 – gauge over – under twin barrel shotgun (below) shown in the inquest Credit: PA 16 Those on Biddick Drive are still haunted by the horror shooting Credit: Neil Hope "It's something that wants forgetting," he said. "What happened was awful, but it's gone, it's over, and we can't bring anyone back. The man was off his head. How do you deal with people like that? "Any one of us could have been a victim. 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Irish Daily Mirror
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The Journal
15 hours ago
- The Journal
Ballymena to host first ever Pride Parade weeks after headline grabbing riots
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