The wife of a Conservative councillor who posted a hate-filled social media message to stir up racial hatred against asylum seekers on the day of the Southport attacks has been jailed for 31 months. Lucy Connolly, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, took to X, formerly Twitter, on July 29, writing: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.” The message came as rioting swept across towns and cities in England this summer, fuelled by disinformation about the suspect in the Southport killings of three children. Connolly, 41, of Parkfield Avenue, Northampton, was sentenced at Birmingham crown court on Thursday, having pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred.