A woman jailed for inciting racial hatred in the wake of the Southport stabbings has been released from prison after serving part of her sentence.
Lucy Connolly, 42, from Northampton, was freed from HMP Peterborough on Thursday morning, less than a year after being handed a 31-month sentence at Birmingham Crown Court in October 2024.
Connolly, a former childminder, pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred after posting a message on X (formerly Twitter) on 29 July 2024, the day three girls were stabbed to death in Southport. In her expletive-laden post, viewed more than 310,000 times before deletion, she called for “mass deportation” and urged people to “set fire” to hotels housing asylum seekers.
She was arrested on 6 August 2024 and later admitted to publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material.
Connolly was ordered to serve 40% of her sentence in custody before release on licence. She left the prison in a taxi shortly after 10:00 BST, passing waiting reporters.
Her imprisonment sparked debate about free speech and sentencing. While critics claimed the punishment was excessive, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended the decision, insisting there was a clear distinction between free expression and incitement to violence.
Court of Appeal judges upheld her sentence in May 2025, rejecting an appeal for reduction.
Connolly’s husband, Raymond, a Northampton town councillor, previously defended her character, saying she was “not a racist” and had “paid a very high price for making a mistake”.