A mum who was jailed for well over two years after she tweeted about the Southport riots has been denied temporary leave to see her 12-year-old daughter and terminally ill husband.

Lucy Connolly, 42, is currently serving a 31-month sentence for a post made last summer where she spoke of mass deportations and setting fire to asylum hotels ‘for all I care’.

The comments came in the wake of the knife attack on a Southport dance class on July 29 in which three children were killed, and amid false claims the attacker was an illegal immigrant.

Connolly’s post, which she later deleted, read: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care…’

She later added: ‘If that makes me racist, so be it.’ The childminder, from Northampton, was subsequently arrested and put behind bars.

But now police bosses are being criticized for denying Connolly temporary leave, as she has been waiting four months to secure release.

This is despite one prison expert describing her as the ‘ideal candidate’ for such a scheme.

Documents suggest Connolly has not yet been granted the leave due to concerns over public and media interest in her case as opposed to any apparent failure to meet the criteria for temporary release.

She also referenced stress being placed on her sick husband, Ray, a Conservative councillor for West Northamptonshire who is suffering from bone marrow failure.

The 42-year-old had taken her post down within four hours when she uploaded it last summer but this was not before it had been viewed 310,000 times and screenshots taken.

She was interviewed by police on August 6 and charged three days later, remaining in jail since as she pleaded guilty before her sentencing in October.

Connolly has been eligible for release on temporary licence since last November, based on her prison time served. The system is open to inmates as a way to ‘rebuild family ties’, allowing for up to two overnight home stays a month.

Only category A prisoners, many of which serve time for violent, terrorist and sexual crimes, those formally listed as escape risks, and suspects failing extradition are excluded under prison rules.

Speaking on the process, Ian Acheson, a former prison governor who has advised the Government on extremism in jails, said he was ‘concerned’ by the ‘apparent foot-dragging over consideration for release on temporary licence’.

He said: ‘It can’t be right that someone who is otherwise eligible is not being considered because of either the prison’s failure to properly risk assess or her ‘notoriety’.

‘In my opinion, and given the offence details and the background to her custodial behaviour I have seen, she ought to be an ideal candidate for early release to allow her reintegration to start.

‘Many more dangerous individuals are walking free as a result of Labour’s emergency mass release legislation.’

The judge who passed sentence on Connolly had said when she published her words online that the mother had been ‘well aware how volatile the situation was’.

‘That volatility led to a serious disorder where mindless violence was used’, the judge added.

Connolly had encouraged activity that threatened or endangered life, the court heard.

Birmingham Crown Court heard further investigations by police had found other messages from Connolly in which she correctly referred to illegal immigrants as ‘boat invaders’.

However, speaking after her guilty plea, Mr. Connolly said the last few weeks had been quite traumatic for his wife and children – and that he now feels ‘kind of relieved’.

The court heard Connolly was arrested the next day, on August 6, and told police she made the post which initially saw her arrested because the Southport children had died in ‘horrific’ circumstances.

She said she had also lost her own son in horrific circumstances and this had ‘triggered’ her. She said she felt that children were not safe, but later took the tweet down because she realised it was potentially illegal.

Connolly acknowledged having strong views on immigration and did not like illegal immigrants and wanted them gone because they were unchecked and denied their race or religion was a factor.

She told officers she was horrified when rioters started setting fire to hotels, as happened in Rotherham on August 4.

Prosecutor Naeem Valli told the court Connolly was bailed, only for officers to receive a further report highlighting other ‘tweets by Mrs. Connolly which appeared to be racist’.

The court heard although Connolly had deleted her account, some of her posts could still be seen after they were shared to other users of the platform.

Since the verdict, there have been claims Connolly was a victim of ‘two-tier justice’ and that her sentence was disproportionate.

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said: ‘Lucy is the victim of two-tier justice because she is white and Sir Keir Starmer ordered the judiciary to impose stiff sentences last August. It is as simple as that.’

Prison service bosses have denied Connolly’s application for release on temporary licence had been blocked and said it was being considered by the governor at HMP Drake Hall in Staffordshire, to which the 42-year-old has recently been transferred.

A spokesman said: ‘Decisions on release on temporary licence and home detention curfew are made following uncompromising risk assessments to prioritize public safety.

Her barrister, Adam King, is expected to argue the judge miscategorized her offence, with a sentence wrongly based on intending to incite serious violence.

He is expected to argue there was insufficient weight placed on mitigating factors such as an unblemished record, positive good character references, and other messages she had sent saying violence was not the answer. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

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