Tory politician's wife admits race hate post on X

Lucy Connolly entered her guilty plea via video link from HMP Peterborough

The wife of a Tory councillor has pleaded guilty to writing a social media post intending to stir up racial hatred.

Lucy Connolly, 41, a childminder whose husband serves on West Northamptonshire Council, called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire and for mass deportations.

Her expletive-ridden post appeared on the X platform on the day three girls were killed in Southport.

Judge Adrienne Lucking KC warned Connolly she faced a jail sentence.

• Live updates: More court appearances following post-Southport violence

Connolly posted a call for hotels housing migrants to be set on fire and for "mass deportation now".

"If that makes me racist, so be it," she added.

Connolly, of Parkfield Avenue in Northampton, appeared by video link from HMP Peterborough wearing a flower-patterned short-sleeved dress for the hearing at Northampton Crown Court.

Also in the courts earlier were:

• a sentencing hearing was postponed for a 12-year-old boy who admitted taking part in two separate incidents of disorder in Manchester because his mother had gone on holiday to Ibiza

• a 15-year-old boy from Sunderland, who was the first person in England to be charged with rioting over the disorder, appeared before magistrates

• another 15-year-old boy who admitted stealing from shops during riots in Hull also had his sentencing hearing postponed

After admitting publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred, the judge announced that Lucy Connolly's sentencing would be transferred to Birmingham to avoid any potential local bias given her husband's political role.

Judge Lucking said: "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."

Her husband, Raymond Connolly, watched the hearing from the public gallery.

Raymond Connolly told reporters he would not resign as a Conservative councillor

Outside court, Mr Connolly told reporters the last few months had been "quite traumatic for Lucy and the children".

He added that his wife "knows she overstepped the mark and there's consequences for it, so hopefully she will be able to learn from it and move on with her life".

He said she had regretted the post "a couple of hours after she put the link up".

He revealed that he had received messages of support from some residents urging him not to resign as a councillor, while others had contacted him to say he should quit.

"I'll leave it to the next elections and let them decide," he said.

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime and counter terrorism unit, said: “During police interview, Lucy Connolly stated she had strong views on immigration, told officers she did not like immigrants and claimed that children were not safe from them.

"It is not an offence to have strong or differing political views, but it is an offence to incite racial hatred – and that is what Connolly has admitted doing."

She will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 17 October.