UPDATED WITH SENTENCE: Childminder admits inciting racial hatred over social media post

A woman who admitted inciting racial hatred after using social media to post about setting fire to hotels housing asylum seekers following the Southport stabbings has been jailed for two years and seven months.

Lucy Connolly, 41, posted on X, formerly Twitter, just hours after the killings, having encountered false information online which said the killer had been a Muslim asylum seeker who had come to the country on a boat.

In her now deleted X post from 29 July, she called for mass deportation and to set fire to hotels housing immigrants. She added: "If that makes me racist, so be it."

The post was also shared by 26-year-old father-of-three Tyler Kay who was sentenced last month to 38 months after admitting publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred.

Connolly was interviewed by police on 6 August and admitted writing the inflammatory post. She was charged three days later on 9 August.

She previously pleaded guilty to one count of inciting racial hatred, and was sentenced to 31 months' imprisonment at Birmingham Crown Court today.

Frank Ferguson, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: "Using threatening, abusive or insulting language to rile up racism online is unacceptable and is breaking the law.

"During police interview Lucy Connolly stated she had strong views on immigration, told officers she did not like illegal 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.

"The prosecution case included evidence which showed that racist tweets were sent out from Mrs Connolly's X account both in the weeks and months before the Southport attacks - as well as in the days after.

"Connolly wrongly thought that she could escape justice by hiding behind a screen, but today she has pleaded guilty and admitted her crime. She will now face the consequences of her actions."