I heard the full story of the woman jailed for two years for a tweet

Summary

Her sentence is even more mind-boggling when you consider that Ricky Jones, then a Labour councillor (now suspended), was charged with encouraging violent disorder around the same time as Lucy Connolly. Footage of an “anti-fascist” rally went viral showing Cllr Jones spew bile at “disgusting Nazi fascists” saying, “We need to cut their throats and get rid of them”. The former trade union official was remanded in custody until the autumn when he was granted bail and in January his trial was put back until August – a full year since his alleged offence took place. Maybe threats from Left-wing men are viewed as harmless rhetorical devices, unlike tweets from Right-wing women? Hard not to agree with Lucy Connolly: whatever she said, in two-tier Kier’s justice system they were out to hammer her.“I daren’t tell Lucy they’ve given Ricky Jones bail,” Ray told me this week. “It would kill her, the injustice of it. But Lucy was the perfect message for Starmer after Southport, wasn’t she? If they could do that to a nice, middle-class lady like her, imagine what they could do to you.”‘It would be hilarious, if it wasn’t so horrifying’After she got that deafening two-and-a-half year jail sentence, Lucy messaged her husband and daughter: “Please don’t live on chicken nuggets and Haribos.” As Mrs Connolly arrived at Peterborough jail – “The most petrified person I’ve ever seen arrive here,” said one prison officer – a doctor, the father of one of the “scrumptious” little girls Lucy looked after, was on his way to the immigration office to submit his citizenship application. Among his documents, there was a reference from the Kindest British Person his family knew. As on so many occasions, Lucy Connolly, poster girl for racism and designated scapegoat, had done everything she could to help. What kind of racist does that?As Lucy’s tearful mother said to me, “It would be hilarious, Allison, if it wasn’t so horrifying”.Despite her fears, Lucy Connolly settled in well to prison life. A...