Lucy Connolly's husband breaks silence after mum whose tweet sparked violence freed

Lucy Connolly's husband has broken his silence after the mum - who posted a racist tweet calling for hotels housing immigrants to be set on fire - was freed yesterday.

Ray Connolly, a former Conservative councillor, spoke out following his wife's release from prison, adding she had coped "relatively well" with imprisonment. But he did admit: "The only person who hasn't is our daughter."

Lucy, 42, was jailed after she shared a post online calling the hotels to be burned against the backdrop of the riots that gripped the country following the Southport murders. False rumours spread the killer was a recent immigrant when it was carried out by Axel Rudakubana, who was born in the UK to Rwandan parents.

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"It will be good to have her home. We are thankful for the support," Mr Connolly said, reports The Sun. "Our focus will be to try to sort out our lives and for my wife to reconnect with our daughter."

Lucy left HMP Peterborough, a closed prison for women, in a taxi at about 10am on Thursday. He sarcastically commented on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, adding: "Well done to Starmer for making it so difficult for a girl of 12. Let’s all give him a pat on the back."

Former childminder Lucy was seen wearing pink when she left the prison and did not immediately return to the family's £400,000 home in Northampton. She had spent just under a year in prison following her sentence in October last year, although she was held for two months in remand before she appeared before Birmingham Crown Court last year.

The mum was freed at the automatic release point aftershe served about 40 per cent of her jail time. She will now serve the rest of her sentence on licence and under supervision.

Her tweet on July 2024, in the hours following the brutal killings, read: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it." The post was viewed more than 310,000 times in over three hours before it was deleted.

Critics of her arrest claimed the punishment for the post was disproportionate while others have noted she pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred. When quizzed about the sentencing during Prime Minister's Questions and if he viewed as an "efficient or fair use" of prison, Mr Starmer responded: "Sentencing is a matter for our courts.

"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."