A Tory councillor’s wife has appeared in court after being accused of stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers with tweets ‘calling for rioters to set fire to migrant hotels’.
Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative Party councillor, has appeared in court accused of publishing a post on X, which stirred up racial hatred against asylum seekers.
She is alleged to have posted on the day three girls were stabbed to death in Southport, 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 41-year-old childminder’s case is the latest example of the police and courts clamping down on alleged lawbreakers and thugs following Britain’s summer of riots.
Connolly’s husband, West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, watched from the public gallery in courtroom four at Northampton Crown Court as she was remanded in custody by Judge Adrienne Lucking KC.
Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative Party councillor, has appeared in court accused of publishing a post on X, which stirred up racial hatred against asylum seekers
She is alleged to have posted the above tweet on the day three girls were stabbed to death in Southport
Connolly’s husband, West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly (pictured), watched from the public gallery in courtroom four at Northampton Crown Court today
Connolly appeared in the dock wearing light blue jeans and a sleeveless green top for the 11-minute hearing and was not required to enter a plea to a charge of publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred.
But the criminal proceedings have been adjourned for three weeks after her lawyer asked for a delay in her case today.
Applying for the case to be adjourned, Connolly’s barrister Liam Muir told Judge Adrienne Lucking KC that the ‘great public interest’ in the case was not lost on him.
The court heard he intends to seek a psychiatric report before the charge is put to Connolly to enter a plea.
Connolly, from Northampton, will reappear at the same court on Monday, September 2.
She had previously appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning but District Judge Rahim Allen-Khimani told Connolly the matter was ‘too serious for this court to deal with’ and she was remanded in custody until her appearance today.
Raymond Connolly serves as the vice chair of the committee on adult social care at West Northamptonshire Council.
On Saturday he denied to the BBC accusations that his wife is racist, explaining she looks after ‘Somalian and Bangladeshi kids’.
Connolly appeared in the dock at court (pictured) wearing light blue jeans and a sleeveless green top for the 11-minute hearing and was not required to enter a plea to a charge of publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred
Raymond Connolly (pictured) is a Conservative councillor and serves as vice chair of the committee on adult social care at West Northamptonshire Council
On Saturday Raymond denied to the BBC accusations that his wife is racist, explaining the childminder looks after ‘Somalian and Bangladeshi kids’
A prison van believed to be carrying Connolly as she arrived at Northampton Crown Court from custody
Online childcare community Childcare.co.uk have since confirmed that they have suspended Connolly following the tweet, after allegations emerged she had an advert on their platform
He said his wife had made one ‘stupid, spur of the moment tweet out of frustration and quickly deleted it’.
Councillor Connolly continued: ‘She’s a good person and she’s not racist. She’s got Somalian and Bangladeshi kids she looks after and she loves them like they’re her own’.
Since posting the vile tweet, Mrs Connolly has been suspended on the platform Childcare.co.uk – where she advertised her childminding services.
She has deleted the post and issued an apology which reads: ‘Acting on information that I now know to be false and malicious, and in a moment of extreme outrage and emotion, I posted words that I realise were wrong in every way.
‘I am someone who cares enormously about children, and the similarity between those beautiful children who were so brutally attacked and my own daughter overwhelmed me with horror but I should not have expressed that horror in the way that I did.’
She added: ‘This has been a valuable lesson for me, in realising how wrong and inaccurate things appearing on social media can be, and I will never ever react in this way again.’
But her courtroom was one of the many packed again today with offenders as judges continued to hand down prison sentences to punish the violence which has exploded across the country in recent days.
The 41-year-old originally appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court (pictured) on Saturday morning via a videolink but her case was upgraded to the Crown Court
Elsewhere a 12-year-old admitted throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of disorder in Manchester.
The boy pleaded guilty to two charges of violent disorder at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, sitting as a youth court, on Monday afternoon.
And a 40-year-old grandfather Ryan Wheatley, the only individual arrested during the protests in Southampton last Wednesday, was today jailed for a year for ‘barrelling into’ a police officer.
Wheatley was arrested in Southampton as he took part in an anti-immigration protest, which was outnumbered by up to 400 people who gathered and chanted ‘racists go home’.
So far, 927 people have been arrested and 466 charged in relation to the recent disorder, a spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said today.
The 12-year-old boy’s arrest followed disturbances outside a hotel housing asylum seekers on July 31, and in Manchester city centre on August 3.
A judge told Ryan Wheatley (pictured) he was to be locked up for a year after he was detained by officers who succeeded in keeping anti-fascist protestors and a far right group of demonstrators apart
Wheatley was arrested in Southampton as he took part in an anti-immigration protest, which was outnumbered by up to 400 people who gathered and chanted ‘racists go home’
Cole Stewart, 18, (pictured) of Victoria Road, Darlington, who pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder at Teesside Magistrates’ Court relating to a protest in Darlington
Stewart, of Victoria Road, Darlington, was seen breaking a large boulder into smaller rocks and throwing them towards officers
Prosecutor Tess Kenyon told the court the boy had ‘played an active role’ in both disturbances.
Ms Kenyon said the boy was part of a group that gathered outside the Holiday Inn hotel on July 31 and was ‘seen in footage handing a rock to another youth during the disorder’.
She added that he was part of a group that attacked a bus, telling the court: ‘He kicks the bus at the side as it drove past him.’
During subsequent disorder in Manchester city centre on August 3, Ms Kenyon said the boy was ‘filmed by police kicking the front window of a vape shop’ and had periodically worn a balaclava during the disturbances.
Ms Kenyon added: ‘He was also seen to throw a missile at a police van.’
Defending the boy, Natasha McGarr said he was ‘very sorry’ and ‘absolutely ashamed’ of his conduct.
Ricky Hardman was arrested after a picture of him brandishing a piece of wood during the disorder on Sunday August 4 was published in a national newspaper, a judge was told
Hardman has been jailed for two years and eight months at Sheffield Crown Court for his part in the rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham
Ms McGarr added: ‘He is really upset for his mother that he’s had to put her through these things.’
District Judge Joanne Hirst said the case was ‘very serious’, adding it was the first she had dealt with of a person ‘attending both incidents’ of disorder.
The judge added: ‘He’s more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant I’ve seen coming through these courts, adult or child.’
The boy, who was wearing a grey jumper, was remanded to local authority accommodation and will be sentenced at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on September 2.
Meanwhile, a 16-year-old boy admitted throwing an object towards mounted police during disorder in Bolton.
The boy pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, sitting as a youth court, on Monday afternoon.
Prosecutor Ms Kenyon said the boy was seen on CCTV on August 4 throwing ‘an object towards mounted police officers who were trying to disperse protesters’ and ‘walking towards an ongoing protest with a weapon in his hand’.
Ms Kenyon added that video footage also showed him aiding looters by ‘holding up shutters of a convenience store while others are trying to get into the store’.
In a statement read out to the court, the shop owner said: ‘I believe it was targeted because of racism against me.’
District Judge Hirst said the case was ‘a very serious matter’ and told the boy: ‘You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.
‘Your mum deserves better than this, we all deserve better.’
The boy was remanded to local authority accommodation and banned from Bolton town centre.
He will be sentenced at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on September 2.
Meanwhile, a woman has admitted throwing water over police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manchester on July 31.
Nevey Smith, 21, of West Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Monday afternoon.
Prosecutor Tess Kenyon said: ‘Footage shows her throwing liquid from a bottle towards police officers who were trying to maintain order.
‘She had a child with her in a stroller.’
Defending, Robert Moussalli said Smith had ‘lost her temper’ during the disorder and ‘threw some water’.
District Judge Joanne Hirst told Smith: ‘You put your own child at risk.’
The judge added that Smith was ‘not as heavily involved as others in the demonstration’ and was ‘not heard to utter any direct racist abuse’.
Smith was released on bail and will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on August 19.
Meanwhile, a teenager seen ‘celebrating’ after throwing a rock which hit a police officer during riots in Darlington has been detained for 18 months.
Footage was shown in court on Monday showing the defendant (wearing a black t shirt at the front of the group) as part of a group attacking a police dog van during the violence outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers
Cole Stewart, 18, was one of about 30 people who gathered outside a mosque in the North East town on August 5.
Teesside Crown Court heard the group was chanting racist and far right slogans.
Police formed a line separating the protesters from a group of about 60 Asian men who had gathered outside the mosque to protect it.
Stewart, of Victoria Road, Darlington, was seen breaking a large boulder into smaller rocks and throwing them towards officers.
When one rock hit an officer on the arm Stewart was seen ‘celebrating with his arms in the air’.
A judge said that earlier that day social media posts had encouraged people to gather on Gladstone Street for a ‘protest’ with the intention of approaching a mosque.
In mitigation, the court heard Stewart had a ‘very difficult background’ and denied using any racist language himself during the incident.
Ryan Wheatley, 40, who was the only individual arrested during the protests in Southampton last Wednesday, (pictured) was today jailed for a year for ‘barrelling into’ a police officer
Sentencing him to 18 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Francis Laird KC said: ‘You chose to take part in an organised act of public disorder, indeed you were at the forefront of it.’
Meanwhile Ricky Hardman has been jailed for two years and eight months at Sheffield Crown Court for his part in the rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.
The 41-year-old who runs a haulage business, was arrested after a picture of him brandishing a piece of wood during the disorder on Sunday August 4 was published in a national newspaper, a judge was told.
Video was also shown in court on Monday showing the defendant was part of a group attacking a police dog van during the violence outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers.
Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Hardman: ‘The incident was part of wider national civic unrest fostered by some form of malignancy in society spread by malevolent users of social media.
‘There’s no question the disorder was racist in character and extremely frightening for anyone who was there.’
ROTHERHAM: Riot officers push anti-migration protesters back from the Holiday Inn Express on August 4
Hardman, of Norfolk Road, Barnsley, admitted violent disorder last week.
He sat in the dock with one security guard wearing a black t-shirt and green trousers with his family watching from the public gallery.
In Manchester, Aaron Davy, 18; Anthony Whitelegg 40; Stephen Barrow, 54; David Whittaker, 46; Graham Brookes, 42; Tracy Pearson, 53; Lynden Parker, 26; Michelle Jibson, 45; Dane Freeman, 25; Waqas Mushtaq, 24; Lawrence Dunkerley, 37, and Nadeem Aslam, 31, will all appear at Crown Court court charged with violent disorder today.
Thomas Ward, 35, has been charged with violent disorder and exposure and will appear at the same court, while Kye Darcey McGlade, 24, has been charged with violent disorder, criminal damage, and theft from a shop.
Scott Chadwick, 34, has been charged with theft and violent disorder, and will also appear at Manchester City Magistrates Court.
Shane Rhodes, 20, and Ethan Miles, 21, will appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court charged with violent disorder, alongside Michael Dunham, 38, who is charged with violent disorder and possession of a Class B drug.
Also in Manchester, a man has admitted throwing a missile at police during ‘shameful disorder’ in Bolton town centre on August 4.
WEYMOUTH: Riot police hold back anti-migration protesters during confrontation on the seafront promenade, on August 4
Niall Charnock, 31, was caught on social media footage breaking through a police barricade and throwing something at officers.
In Yorkshire, the Crown Prosecution Service said Jamie Phillips, 31, admitted harassment at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court while Cristal Parkin, 20, pleaded guilty to racial or religiously-aggravated harassment at Leeds District Magistrates Court.
Richard Harrison, 37, Elliott Wragg, 23, Morgan Hardy, 29, Glyn Guest, 60, Peter Lynch, 61, and Trevor Lloyd, 49, have been charged with violent disorder and will appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court.
Connor Whiteley, 26, has been charged with violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker, and will appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court, while James Robert Martin, 18, has been charged with harassment, racially or religiously-aggravated harassment and obstruction of a police constable, and will appear at York Magistrates’ Court.
Stuart Bolton, 38, has been charged with violent disorder, driving whilst disqualified and using a motor vehicle without insurance, and will appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court.
Joe Coates, 24, has been charged with racially/religiously aggravated harassment and failing to comply with a community protection notice, and will appear at Leeds District Magistrates Court.
MIDDLESBROUGH: A car lies overturned and on fire during an ant-immigration protest
Travis Whitelock, 23, and Julieanne Kay, 47, have been charged with violent disorder and will appear at Hull Magistrates Court.
Meanwhile, Liverpool Crown Court heard that a 26-year-old man threw missiles and kicked a police van after he earlier attended a peaceful vigil in Southport with his pregnant girlfriend.
Dylan Carey, from Hindley, Greater Manchester, visited the Merseyside town on July 30 to pay his tributes to the three girls fatally stabbed at a dance class by laying flowers and lighting a candle.
Widespread disorder involving a group of about 1,000 people later broke out, with the focus of violence aimed at a local mosque and fuelled by misinformation on social media, said prosecutor Nardeen Nemat.
Chants of ‘who the f*** is Allah?’ and ‘this is our f***ing country’ were heard as police officers came under fire from missiles as they formed a cordon to prevent the group from reaching the mosque.
CCTV footage was played to the court which showed Carey, wearing black shorts, a grey T-shirt and black cap, twice kicking a police van and hurling a bottle and a tin of paint at the vehicle.
Police are pictured pushing back rioters outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel, which is housing asylum seekers, on August 4 in Rotherham
Prosecutor Nardeen Nemat said CCTV and mobile phone footage of the incident involving Dylan Carey was shown ‘quite quickly’ online on X, formerly Twitter, and other social media platforms.
A police officer at Southport railway station was shown the footage and stopped Carey, 26, at about 9.05pm when he walked past with his girlfriend and his father, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
The defendant told the officer he was present at the disturbance but denied any involvement.
He was arrested at his home in Castle Hill Road, Hindley, on August 5 and when later interviewed he said was at the vigil when he saw a notice for a ‘peaceful’ protest about the stab attack.
He attended and the crowd became angry as missiles were launched, the court heard, and Carey also ‘grew angrier’ and threw items himself.
Miss Nemat said: ‘He said he decided to go to his pregnant girlfriend and leave once a concrete slab had been thrown’.
ROTHERHAM: Riot police officers push back anti-migration protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express Hotel
Carey, who pleaded guilty last week to violent disorder, will be sentenced on Monday afternoon after a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service is sent to the judge.
At Southampton Crown Court, a judge told Ryan Wheatley he was to be locked up for a year after he was detained by officers who succeeded in keeping anti-fascist protestors and a far right group of demonstrators.
Wheatley was arrested in Southampton as he took part in an anti-immigration protest, which was outnumbered by up to 400 people who gathered and chanted ‘racists go home.’
Wheatley, of Malvern Close, Fair Oak, Hants., admitted a charge of assault by beating at a hearing last Friday and was today jailed by a judge at Southampton Crown Court.
Passing sentence Judge Christopher Parker said it was clear Wheatlet intended to cause or threaten violence.
The defendant had attended the protest wearing a mask and a hooded top with an England flag draped over his shoulders.
Guy Sullivan, 43, admitted a charge of violent disorder relating to the incident during protests in the Devon city on August 5.
The court was shown video footage from Sergeant Rob Perry’s body-worn camera showing Wheatley approaching the opposing protesters before charging at the officer.
An incapacitant spray was used on him before he was detained by another officer.
In a victim impact statement, read out in court, Sgt. Perry said he had not been physically injured but had to relive the incident and what could have been.
Defence counsel Keely Harvey said custody had come as shock to Wheatley who had previously received a six-month community order for possessing a bladed article in a public place and shoplifting in 2008.
‘He’s had time to reflect,’ Ms Harvey said.
‘Whilst we have a right to protest that comes with responsibility and he has not used responsibility wisely.’
She said he had apologised to Sgt. Perry, saying it ‘wasn’t a deliberate attack.’
A man who grabbed a police officer’s baton and ran off with it during disorder in Plymouth has been jailed for three years.
Guy Sullivan, 43, admitted a charge of violent disorder relating to the incident during protests in the Devon city on August 5.
Jason Francis, 38, ‘smirked and laughed’ as he hit PC James Despard-Clark during a skirmish causing a bloody nose
Plymouth Crown Court heard the lone officer was up against a grass verge and was using his baton to strike forward in a bid to push back protesters around him.
Sullivan, of New George Street, Plymouth, then came behind the officer and grabbed the baton out of his hands.
The officer was pulled to the ground and attacked by other protesters as onlookers filmed and shouted ‘get him’, ‘do him’ and ‘let him have it’.
The judge jailed Sullivan for 26 months for the violent disorder.
Sullivan had previously received a 16-month prison sentence for smashing into a Tesco Express store during the protests and stealing £281 worth of alcohol.
Judge Linford reduced that sentence to 10 months, which Sullivan will serve after the 26-month sentence for violent disorder.
Meanwhile, five more more people, including a 16-year-old girl, all admitted a charge of violent disorder as they appeared at Plymouth magistrates’ court today.
Gary Harkness, 51, of North Road West, John Cann, 51, of Patna Place and Ryan Bailey, 41, of no fixed abode, Plymouth, all pleaded guilty.
A 16-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also pleaded guilty.
HARTLEPOOL: Police officers outside a damaged butchers shop on Murray Street following a violent protest
The three men will next appear before Plymouth Crown Court tomorrow.
The two youths have been bailed to appear before youth court at a later date.
Officers at Devon and Cornwall Police have arrested 18 people and charged 16 in connection with the violent disorder on the streets of Plymouth on August 5.
Assistant Chief Constable Glen Mayhew said: ‘We continue to work to bring those involved in last Monday night’s violent disorder to justice. This has been a collaborated effort between police investigation teams and the Crown Prosecution Service, who have delivered a swift response.
‘Our message is simple to anyone who plans to breed violent disorder; we will identify you, and you will face the full force of the law. The actions on Monday do not represent our wider community and we would like to thank the public for their ongoing and unwavering support of our officers.’
A 22-year-old who threw a vacuum cleaner through a house window and told a police officer ‘I hope your children get raped’ during riots in Middlesbrough was ‘overwhelmed by distaste for what had happened in Southport,’ a court heard.
Thomas Rogers, of Wicklow Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 26 months after pleading guilty to violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon
Teesside Crown Court heard Rogers was seen throwing bricks at police by an officer who later asked if he was okay as he had blood on his T-shirt.
ROTHERHAM: Riot police officers push back anti-migration protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express Hotel
Rogers replied he had cut his hand throwing rocks at the police and ‘would do it again’. He told the officer: ‘I hope your kids get raped, I hate the police.’
A statement from a student who lives in the shared house where Rogers was filmed throwing a vacuum cleaner through the window said he and his partner had been left ‘feeling differently about the town they called home and the people they lived amongst’.
In mitigation, the court heard Rogers was a ‘complex and vulnerable young man’ who had grown up in care.
Tabitha Buck, defending, said the attack in Southport ‘had a significant effect on him’ and he was ‘overwhelmed by distaste at what had occurred and his distaste at what he felt was a lack of reaction by the police’.
She told the court there was ‘indirect racism at play there’.
A violent thug who punched a police officer in the face during a Far Right protest at a seaside resort has today been jailed for two years.
Jason Francis, 38, ‘smirked and laughed’ as he hit PC James Despard-Clark during a skirmish causing a bloody nose. He then retreated into a large group of anti-migrant protesters who descended on Weymouth, Dorset, seafront on August 4.
Francis pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker when he appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court.
