Childminder married to Tory councillor pleads guilty to stirring up racial hatred

A childminder who is married to a Conservative councillor is facing a “substantial” prison sentence after she admitted stirring up racial hatred with an inflammatory social media post.

Lucy Connolly tweeted about hotels housing asylum seekers on the same day three girls were fatally stabbed at a dance class in Southport. She said on X: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care … If that makes me racist, so be it.”

At a hearing on Monday, Connolly, 41, of Northampton, pleaded guilty to publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred. She is due to be sentenced next month, with a judge warning her she faces a “substantial” custodial sentence.

Connolly entered her guilty plea via video link from HMP Peterborough having been remanded in custody after her first court appearance on 10 August. Her husband, the West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, watched proceedings from the public gallery. He is the vice-chair of the council’s adult social care and health committee.

Lucy Connolly spoke only to enter her plea and confirm she could hear the judge during the hearing at Northampton crown court, which lasted seven minutes. Adjourning the case for sentencing at Birmingham crown court on 17 October, the judge, Adrienne Lucking KC, told Connolly that the ordering of pre-sentence reports was no indication of the probable sentence.

The judge said the case was being transferred to Birmingham to avoid any potential appearance of bias given Connolly’s husband’s political post. Lucking told her: “Sentencing will entirely be a matter for the judge on the next occasion but it’s likely to be a substantial custodial sentence. In the meantime, you are remanded in custody.”

Connolly advertised her childminding services on the online platform Childcare.co.uk, which has said that once it heard about her “highly inappropriate tweet” it took action to suspend her as an advertiser.

Speaking outside court after the guilty plea, her husband said the last few weeks had been “quite traumatic” for his wife and children but he added that he felt “kind of relieved”.

He said his wife regretted making the post, which she deleted within two hours. “She knows that she overstepped the mark and there is consequences for it. Hopefully she’ll be able to learn from this and move on with her life,” he said.

Connolly’s case happened on what was another busy day for courts in England dealing with people accused of being involved in disorder and rioting after the Southport killings. In Manchester, the case against a 12-year-old boy who was involved in two separate incidents of disorder was adjourned as his mother had gone on holiday to Ibiza.

The district judge Joanne Hirst told Manchester magistrates court she was “frankly astonished” that the child’s mother had chosen to fly abroad for five days, “one day before her 12-year-old son comes to court facing the potential of a period in detention”.

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was instead accompanied to court by his uncle and had been due to be sentenced for two counts of violent disorder. He had previously admitted being part of a mob that attacked a bus outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manchester on 31 July, and days later, on 3 August, was involved in a second incident of disorder in which a group was filmed kicking the windows of a vape shop and throwing a missile at a police van.

Hirst ordered a parental summons for the boy’s mother to appear before the court when sentencing was passed on 11 September, adding that she may also consider imposing a parenting order.

The judge said the boy “played a greater part in the recent civil disorder than any adult or child I’ve seen coming through these courts”. Addressing the child as she adjourned sentencing, Hirst told him: “Boys like you need their mums in their lives. I need your mum here.”