Tory councillor’s wife arrested over ’racial hatred’ ’telling rioters to set fire to migrant hotels’
Rioters have thrown parts of England and Northern Ireland into chaos with far-right thugs targeting and setting fire to hotels housing migrants in Rotherham and Tamworth
A Tory councillor’s wife has been arrested on suspicion of racial hatred after she is alleged to have said rioting thugs should set fire to all migrant hotels.
Childminder Lucie Connolly, who works in Northamptonshire, allegedly called for mass deportations before concluding her social media post with "if that makes me racist, so be it." In the post, shared to X/Twitter, Connolly reportedly posted: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b****** for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them.
"I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. if that makes me racist, so be it."
The message shared to Connolly’s X/Twitter account was shared in the hours following the brutal murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance club in Southport, Merseyside, last week. Misinformation quickly spread online in the immediate aftermath of the murders, falsely claiming the suspect was a recent asylum seeker.
In the following days rioters have thrown England and Northern Ireland into disorder, smashing up neighbourhoods and attacking police. Hotels housing migrants and asylum seekers were also targeted and set alight during tense moments in Rotherham and Tamworth over the weekend.
Northamptonshire Police confirmed an arrest had been in connection with racial hatred. Officers up and down the country have carried out hundreds of arrests following far-right riots that left communities up and down the country reeling.
"Northamptonshire Police has received reports of a hate crime regarding a post published on social media," a police spokesperson said. "In response, a 41-year-old woman from Northampton has been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and remains in police custody."
In a Monday statement, Childcare.co.uk said it had suspended a childminder from advertising on its website. It said in a statement: "Earlier today, we received information about a highly inappropriate tweet sent by a Twitter used unknown to us.
Police have made hundreds of arrests in connection with the riots and surrounding events ( Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
"Allegations later emerged that this individual may be an Ofsted registered childminder who had an advert on our platform. We took immediate action to suspend this advertiser. We understand the individual has been reported to both the Police and Ofsted."
The childcare website then shared both Northamptonshire Police’s statement and an article naming Connolly. The Mirror has contacted Northamptonshire Police for comment.
Her husband Raymond, a vice chair of the committee on adult social care at West Northamptonshire Council, told the BBC Connolly was not racist as she looked after "Somalian and Bangladeshi kids." Raymond added his wife’s comment was one "stupid, spur of the moment tweet out of frustration and quickly deleted it."
He 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." According to MailOnline, Connolly shared other posts on social media including one instance where she said she had not seen anyone "trying to organise or spread any kind of hate or discrimination."
Thugs attacked police during riots across the country ( Image: Liverpool Echo)
She added: "Imagine if two tier Keir [Starmer] told me I had to stay in my home due to riots. That threat is very real right now."
MailOnline reported Connolly later apologised in a Tuesday social media post, adding: "I regret and apologise for a recent post that I made. 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.
"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."
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