Free Speech Union founder Toby Young has criticised the 31-month prison sentence given to Lucy Connolly for a social media post, claiming it is disproportionately harsh compared to sentences given to child sexual exploitation offenders.
Speaking on GB News, Young highlighted that members of a 2013 Telford grooming gang received lighter sentences than Connolly.
"What's so extraordinary about that sentence is that people convicted of participating in child sexual exploitation, members of rape gangs, have received lower sentences," Young said.
He noted that in the Telford case, where seven men pleaded guilty to various grooming offences, four received shorter sentences than Connolly.
Toby Young hit out at the sentencing handed to Lucy Connolly
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"You have to ask, what world do we live in which raping a child gets you a lower prison sentence than a single tweet," Young remarked.
Lucy Connolly, the wife of a former Conservative councillor, has lost her appeal against a 31-month prison sentence for inciting racial hatred following a post about migrants on the day of the Southport attacks.
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Lucy Connoll's appeal was dismissed
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The Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that there was "no arguable basis" that her original sentence was "manifestly excessive", according to a judgment handed down by Lord Justice Holroyd.
Connolly, 42, was jailed last October after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred for a post she made on X on 29 July 2024, the day three young girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Her husband, Raymond Connolly, was a Tory West Northamptonshire councillor until he lost his seat in May. She is currently serving her sentence at HMP Drake Hall in Staffordshire.
Connolly's post, which was viewed 310,000 times before she deleted it after three-and-a-half hours, called for "mass deportation now" and for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire.
Toby Young spoke on GB News
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"I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it," she wrote.
During her appeal hearing, Connolly testified that she was "really angry, really upset" when she made the post and that she "never" intended to incite violence.
The court heard that Connolly's son had died tragically around 14 years ago, which heightened her sensitivity to the Southport murders.
"Those parents still have to live a life of grief. It sends me into a state of anxiety and I worry about my children," she told the court.
She later apologised for acting on "false and malicious" information.
Young further argued that the judge failed to consider several mitigating factors in Connolly's case."
She deleted the tweet about three hours after she posted it and apologised for posting it," Young explained.
He added that Connolly "subsequently posted tweets discouraging people from rioting and none of that was taken into account by the judge."
According to Young, Connolly pleaded guilty to intending to incite serious violence without fully understanding the implications for sentencing.
"Part of the case that her barrister made in the Court of Appeal last week was she plead guilty without knowing the implications from a sentencing point of view and she wasn't properly informed by a solicitor," he said.
The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, stating that the principal ground of appeal "was substantially based on a version of events put forward by the applicant which we have rejected."
