X.comA woman who was jailed for stirring up racial hatred in the aftermath of the Southport attack has been released from prison.
Lucy Connolly, 42, whose husband serves on Northampton Town Council, pleaded guilty in September after posting the expletive-ridden message on X the day three girls were stabbed in Southport in July 2024.
Connolly, from Northampton, called for “mass deportation now” and urged her followers on X to “set fire” to hotels housing asylum seekers.
She was released from HMP Peterborough earlier after she was handed a 31-month prison sentence in October at Birmingham Crown Court.
It is understood Connolly was a passenger in a white taxi which left HMP Peterborough via the vehicle airlock, a set of two gates exiting the prison, shortly after 10:00 BST on Thursday.
Once the external gate of the airlock had opened, it was reported the taxi drove off down the road past reporters.
In October, Connolly was ordered to serve 40% of her sentence in prison before being released on licence.
Northamptonshire PoliceThe former childminder posted her tweet on X on 29 July 2024.
On 6 August 2024 she was arrested, by which point she had deleted her social media account, but other messages were found by officers after they had seized her phone.
The post was viewed 310,000 times in the three-and-a-half hours before she deleted it.
Later in court she admitted to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material on X.
Connolly’s husband, Raymond, is a Northampton town councillor and former West Northamptonshire district councillor.
GoogleHer sentence had been criticised as being too harsh, but Sir Keir Starmer defended it.
On 21 May, during Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir was asked whether Connolly’s imprisonment was an “efficient or fair use” of prison.
He responded: “Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country.
“I am strongly in favour of free speech, we’ve had free speech in this country for a very long time and we protect it fiercely.
“But I am equally against incitement to violence against other people. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.”
In May Court of Appeal judges refused her appeal to reduce the sentence.
