Wife of Northamptonshire Tory councillor appears in court for inciting racial hatred

The wife of a Tory councillor has appeared in court charged with publishing written material to stir up racial hatred in relation to a social media post calling for attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers.

Lucy Connolly, 41, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on Saturday morning via a videolink and did not enter a plea.

It is alleged that Connolly, from Northampton, posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "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 came on the day three girls, Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, were killed at a holiday club in Southport.

District Judge Rahim Allen-Khimani told Connolly the matter is "too serious for this court to deal with".

Connolly, who was a Ofsted-registered childminder, was remanded in custody until her next appearance at Northampton Crown Court on Monday.

It comes after a father-of-three was jailed for 38 months for stirring up racial hatred by using social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

Tyler Kay appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday having pleaded guilty at the town's magistrates court the day before.

The prime minister warned social media companies over misinformation spread online about the identity of the 17-year-old suspect, Axel Rudakubana, including false information about his name, and claims that he was an asylum seeker.

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