Tory Councilor Raymond Connolly's wife, Lucy Connolly, has been arrested after a racist tweet in which she called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire. Her inflammatory comments followed the tragic stabbing of three schoolgirls at a dance class in Southport on July 29.
The incident involved 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who carried out a stabbing spree at a dance studio in Southport, a town in northern England. Last week, Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder by a Liverpool court.
Controversial Post Deleted
According to BBC, Lucy Connolly, from Northampton, posted on her X account (formerly Twitter), "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it." She later deleted the post and apologized, stating that she acted on "false and malicious" information.
In another post, Connolly expressed remorse, saying, "I care enormously about children, and the similarity between those beautiful children who were brutally attacked and my own daughter overwhelmed me with horror. I should not have expressed that horror in the way I did. This has been an invaluable lesson for me in realizing how wrong and inaccurate things on social media can be."
Tory councillor Raymond Connolly defended his wife, calling her tweet a "stupid, spur-of-the-moment" reaction made out of frustration and quickly deleted. He emphasized that she is not racist, mentioning that she cares for Somalian and Bangladeshi children as if they were her own.
Lucy Connolly remains in custody, arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, the outlet reported.
Social Media Reacts
The social media reacted sharply to Connolly's remarks. "Lucy Connolly is going to prison, that's almost certain. If the judge lets her, a white woman married to a Tory, get away with demanding the hideous deaths of asylum seekers and politicians, just because she whined she'd believed lies on the internet, they can ALL say that," wrote a user on X.
"Lucy fucked around and found out. Her excuses for tweeting about 'mass deportations' and calling for hotels to be set on fire are frankly extraordinary. These people must think that we are all stupid. Hopefully the court won't be conned. And yes, she is a racist," read another tweet.
"White fascist women: Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor has been arrested after she called for hotels with asylum seekers to be set on fire. "She's a good person and she's not racist," her husband said. The fucking nerve!" read another post.
Lucy Connolly, the childminder wife of a Tory councillor, has been arrested after she called for hotels with asylum seekers to be set on fire.
— Lorna_TVeditor (@Lorna_TVeditor) August 6, 2024
"If that makes me racist, so be it," the bigot said.
Thinking of all the Black and brown children this tvvat looked after.
👇🾠pic.twitter.com/IINR8F7N1m
