To think Lucy Connolly has been made an example of?

[SouthernFashionista]

Have any of you read this article about Lucy Connolly who tweeted inflammatory comments following the Southport murders? I have to admit that at the time I was fully supportive of having her locked up, with the key thrown away. But reading this article made me view it all a little differently. Surely she has done her time?
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/04/lucy-connolly-southport-riots-axel-rudakubana-taylor-swift/

No, you don’t. Which is exactly why there are sentencing guidelines, which were entirely followed here.

She got the minimum sentence for the crime she committed and pled guilty to, less 25% for her guilty plea. Then it was further reduced by 60%.

According to a PP, her husband is standing for election again, so can’t be that ill.

How do you know she ‘clearly regrets’ the tweet?

Messaging her mate and saying words to the effect of ‘that tweet seems to have got me in hot water…I’ll play the race card’ doesn’t sound much like contrition to me.

Away you with your knowledge and facts and stuff, we'll have none of it on this thread.😆

ShE sAiD WoRdS!!

You sound so empathetic

She deleted the tweet within 4 hours

It’s a completely fucked up system isn’t it

100% agree

The article was written by a heavily biased & dreadful so-called journalist for a Rightwing rag. It was not a truthful representation. I saw her TL on Twitter before she deleted her account - it was rife with heavily racist tweets & she was a strong supporter of Far Right figures. She had a big account, which meant her tweets had reach & that one was retweeted loads by massive accounts. Those riots caused terror to people like me - not least the video of a crowd of thugs dragging people that “didn’t look English” out of cars & had a huge economic impact on people & business already struggling because of the destruction. That she was a child minder was the worst part. I hate this government with a passion and they have locked up people for 5 years for attending a Xoom meeting. People are routinely arrested now for attending meetings to organise peaceful protests & worse for taking part in peaceful protests. She’s not a victim, and a message had to be sent out to quell these riots and any plan to start future ones

I'm very concerned about the erosion of free speech in this country but I have no sympathy for her. Who in their right mind would post something like that? Or even say something like that at all? It's horrendous.

No different to extremists shouting kill the infidels. Saying bad stuff doesn't mean you're telling people to do it or want others to, it's just knee jerk offensive attacks.

If she'd posted 'meet me at the travel lodge at 8pm bring petrol bombs' yes I'd understand the sentence.

If she'd posted that, the charges would have been different and she'd have faced a longer sentence.

She pled guilty and was sentenced accordingly.

She deserves as much sympathy as anyone else who breaks the law

If it was your house someone was encouraging others to burn down, you might have a different perspective.

I have a friend of Asian heritage who lived in the next streets to the Southport Tragedy, they were too terrified to leave their house.

There are more people in prison as a result of the Southport tragedy than there are imprisoned as a result of the Pakistani rape gangs scandal! Pakistani men torturing and raping predominantly young white girls doesn’t carry as much weight as tweets.
That’s what this shit shower government has given us. Censorship!

Everyone should have the right to offend as everyone has a right to be offended. It’s called free speech! The fundamentals of democracy.

Do you have a source for this?

The absolute numbers are meaningless - many more people committed crimes in the trouble over the Southport tragedy. What is more pertinent is how many people were found guilty of crimes and not imprisoned, or given short enough sentences that they are released now.

it truly would be outrageous if men convicted of rape were given shorter or suspended sentences than someone convicted of incitement to racial hatred and violence - but as rape has a minimum sentence of 4 years, and incitement to racial hatred starts at 3 years, that wouldn’t be likely.

As has been pointed out plenty of times already, there is no such thing as freedom of speech without consequences.

We have rights to freedom of expression - ironically (as I get most of those whining on about fReeDOm are brexiteers), this is given through the European human rights act.

But as with most things, our personal rights are restricted where they impinge on the safety or personal rights of others.

TLDR: you can’t shout fire in a crowded theatre

The right to offend is not a thing.

There are more people in prison as a result of the Southport tragedy than there are imprisoned as a result of the Pakistani rape gangs scandal! Pakistani men torturing and raping predominantly young white girls doesn’t carry as much weight as tweets
That’s what this shit shower government has given us. Censorship!
@askmenow

I don't think you can lay the blame for what did and didn't happen in the case of the Rotherham grooming gangs scandal on the the current Labour government. But prosecutions of those involved are still being sought under the current administration:

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/operation-stovewood-rotherham-child-sexual-abuse-investigation

and other grooming gangs continue to be prosecuted:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0e43nxpepno.amp

Dumbdog
but as rape has a minimum sentence of 4 years

I don't think rape has a statutory minimum sentence in England and Wales, although the average sentence might be four years.

I posted this earlier in the thread. It is 4 years minimum as a starting point in England and Wales.

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/crown-court/item/rape/

That's shockingly low, but thanks for the info

And that is after the quota which lets most rapists walk free on purpose to fudge the conviction rates. Sadly you can confess to rape or even film it and still walk free.

ExtraOnions
She pled guilty and was sentenced accordingly

Although I see that she is appealing her sentence next month;

Connolly is also seeking to appeal against her sentence, with a hearing due on May 15. Adam King, her barrister, is expected to argue that the judge miscategorised her offence, with a sentence wrongly based on intending to incite serious violence.

This meant she received a longer sentence than she should have done. If it had been “correctly” categorised under Sentencing Council guidelines, she could have been jailed for less than two years, which would have made her eligible for a suspended prison sentence.

Mr King will also argue that the judge failed to give sufficient weight to mitigating factors.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/04/prison-chiefs-mother-jailed-social-media-southport-attack/

What quota is this? Everything I've read about the conviction rate is that the CPS wants to increase it, not lower it or stick to a quota.

The low conviction rate is appalling enough without this quota. Where did you hear of it?

There is no statutory minimum sentence for rape. However sentencing guidelines suggest a starting point of four years imprisonment.

https://www.jdspicer.co.uk/site/blog/crime-fraud/how-long-is-a-rape-sentence-in-the-uk

Some people believe that Lucy was a plant due to her husband being the first Covid patient in Northampton and she the first social media conviction

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-57100375.amp