Locking up woman for 31 months over tweet is not justice

THE disgraceful case of Lucy Connolly reads like satire. She is the Tory councillor's wife, jailed for 31 months for a social media post.

- Esther Krakue

That's right. In the same nation that's one drug bust away from overflowing prisons, this is who we're locking up.

No one is defending what the mother-of-one posted in the wake of the killing of three children in Southport — it was a despicable comment: "Mass deportation now. Set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care. While you're at it, take the treacherous government and politicians with them."

For this vile, inflammatory comment, which she later deleted and which preceded the rioting, she pleaded guilty to inciting racial violence.

But her punishment raises much bigger questions about justice. This isn't a one-off. The UK has a history of imposing harsh sentences in the wake of riots. After the 2011 disorder, courts were told to ignore standard sentencing guidelines, resulting in two men receiving four-year prison terms for inciting riots via Facebook.

Go back further to the 2005 Lozells riots in Birmingham and the pattern continues. Four people were jailed months later as part of a strategy to demonstrate the consequences of stirring unrest.