Lucy Connolly has been mistreated by prison officers who have handcuffed her, “manhandled her without provocation” and stripped her of privileges, Reform Deputy Leader Richard Tice has said after visiting her today. The Mail has more.
Reform UK’s Deputy Leader claimed Connolly was “manhandled without provocation” after visiting her today at HMP Peterborough, where she is serving a 31-month sentence for posting a racist tweet in the wake of the Southport attacks.
The former childminder, who is the wife of Tory councillor Ray Connolly, posted a 51-word online rant about migrants hours after Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls in Southport on July 29th last year.
Her sentence, which she unsuccessfully appealed last month, has been at the centre of a free speech row, with critics including former PM Boris Johnson and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claiming it was too harsh.
Mr Tice has even proposed a bill – named ‘Lucy’s Bill’ – which would allow people to mount mass appeals against punishments they deem to be too severe or lenient.
Connolly was allegedly mistreated after she was told she wouldn’t be transferred to an enhanced wing with full privileges, but would instead be thrown into a 23-hour-a-day lockdown with the most violent prisoners.
When she challenged the decision, she was allegedly restrained by officers with handcuffs and taken to her new cell in what Mr Tice claimed was a “politically motivated” response.
After visiting Ms Connolly in prison, Mr Tice told reporters: “Five days after the incident, the bruises on her wrists are still significant – yellow. It was obviously horrible what she went through.
“On Thursday, she was manhandled, mistreated with no provocation. She was denied enhanced accommodation to which she was entitled and they gave her, frankly, the Nutters Wild Wing – druggies, violence.
“You have to think it’s politically motivated. I think the next few weeks before her release are going to be very challenging, worrying. I think it would suit the authorities to want to provoke a violent reaction from Lucy. I told Lucy to be very careful.”
The deputy Reform leader said he met with HMP Peterborough’s Head of Security, explaining: “He is looking at the complaint seriously. When we get the result of that complaint – if they have ‘lost’ the bodycam footage or any of that funny business then I will escalate the complaint and meet the Governor.”
Mr Tice added: “I genuinely fear that she is actually being treated as a political prisoner for political purposes.”
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