A woman who called for hotels housing migrants to be set alight could walk free from prison in a matter of hours, it has been reported.
Childminder Lucy Connolly pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred after sending the X post on the day of the Southport attacks.
The mum is now set to be released early from HMP Peterborough, having served less than half of her sentence, according to reports in the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.
Her post, which was viewed more than 300,000 times in the four hours before she deleted it, said: ‘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.’
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The post was prompted by false rumours which circulated on social media following the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, which suggested the attacker was an illegal immigrant.
Connolly, 41, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, was sentenced to 31 months in prison last October, and in May of this year, she lost an appeal to reduce her sentence.
The childminder’s X post was uploaded hours after Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all killed by Axel Rudakubana, who was aged 17 at the time.
The attack on the class injured eight other children and two adults.
It sparked rioting across the country, which has led to dozens of prison sentences.
Connolly’s imprisonment was highly controversial, with her supporters claiming she was made a scapegoat for last summer’s disorder and given an unfairly long jail term.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended her conviction, saying he would ‘always support’ the UK’s justice system.
Court of Appeal judges agreed her sentence was appropriate when they refused her bid to reduce it.
Dismissing her appeal, Lord Justice Holroyde said: ‘There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive.
‘The application for leave to appeal against sentence therefore fails and is refused.’
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