Thirty-One Months for a Tweet? And Labour Says Two-Tier Justice is a “Conspiracy Theory”!
Yesterday, as many will have been shocked to learn, a woman was sentenced to 31 months in prison for a tweet. Lucy Connolly, 41, is a mother with no criminal record and has had mental health issues in the past. She also happens to be the wife of a West Northamptonshire Conservative councillor, Raymond Connolly. Already being held on remand, she was sentenced by Judge Melbourne Inman KC at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty last month to distributing material with the intention of stirring up racial hatred.
On the evening of the vicious Southport attack, July 29th, Mrs Connolly had tweeted the following:
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There has to be a process to hold that judge to account for the discrepancies in sentencing?I am in for the crowdfund
I posted this yesterday, but it’s my strong suspicion that any judge letting paedophiles walk free is a paedophile themselves, they just haven’t been investigated. Who poses the bigger threat to the public? Somebody caught with thousands of images of kids being sexually abused and who is consequently increasing demand for this horrific crime, or what this lady posted, who likely incited or influenced nobody? It’s a no-brainer who should be locked up, as far as I’m concerned. Paedophilia has essentially been decriminalized, from what I can see;
”THIRTY paedophiles who hoarded thousands of pictures of the abuse of children as young as two have walked free from courts across the UK in the last two weeks alone.
The offenders, all found with the most serious Category A images, were spared prison — with one of the sickos smirking as he tasted continued liberty, our investigation reveals.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/31075489/30-paedos-disgusting-child-abuse-images-walk-free/
Totally agree on all points, Mogs, obviously. With a very minor exception, someone who only possesses these images is not increasing demand for the images. If they paid for them, then all that will cause is an increase in supply (which is awful, given the topic, obviously). Important distinction.
I think that’s what I meant. Demand influencing supply. There’s always been paedophiles and perverts but when you stop and think about it, this must’ve increased by orders of magnitude since the internet became a thing. Imagine the convenience for the sick buggers compared to the pre-‘net days, when availability of anything like that must’ve been really limited. So now we have a vast industry that’s never going away. A few clicks down the ‘dark web’ and Bob’s your uncle. Same could be said of porn, obviously, but that’s consensual between adults. It’s the amount and availability of child sex abuse which bothers me greatly. So as a consequence, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were vastly more paedophiles walking around nowadays then, say, forty years ago, but we’re never going to get actual figures on this, of course.
the fact that certain groups of people seem to get away with lesser or no detainment is cause for alarm. I am also concerned that society has a justice system from when people were brought up with moral and values. Those morals and values are increasingly being eroded and we have channels of communications that expose their actions and makes the different responses more visible. Re judges, I bet their are many bad types within that group.
Even in Brave New World unrestricted infant sexual activity was limited to children among themselves, adults simply encouraged it. Still, Huxley makes it clear that a society free of sexual morality is vastly easier to control.
I’ve read the Sentencing Remarks and looked at the Sentencing Guidelines. As far as my layman’s non-legal opinion is worth, it does seem as though the judge applied the guidelines reasonably. The problem is not the judge, it’s the law.
She could not have known how many views that would receive and that seems to be a main point of his justification. Why not suspend the sentence if we have overcrowded prisons?
While the judge did refer to the widespread dissemination of the tweet, that didn’t change the level of “harm” the offence was categorised as being under (and hence the sentence), since it was already in category 1 for threatening or endangering life (something that was admitted by the defendant).
In my opinion, the judge was careful not to use the wide attention the tweet got in order to put it in category 1, instead relying only on “safe” grounds, since doing so could arguably be appealable precisely for the reason you give, and judges don’t like to be overturned.
Probably very few people outside the legal profession knew you could get 3+ years for such a tweet, but here we are. Please refer to my previous article for the reasoning as to why I disagree with this sort of thing.
I can remember that article and the case. We are in a bad place
Maybe the problem is a judge whose command of English is lacking.
set fire to all the hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them
This is not an incitement to anything, it’s a statement that the person who made it wouldn’t care if the indicated actions took place, ie, assuming that rioting was already ongoing while it was made, that the author of the text wouldn’t feel compelled to do anything to stop it. It could be regarded as weak statement in support of the rioters, weak because the person who made it certainly also didn’t feel compelled to join in, not even verbally. Further, it’s neither targetted at members of a certain race nor religion nor at people with a certain sexual orientation because illegal immigrant is surely neither a race nor a religion nor a sexual orientation.
If the law punishes communication per se, ie, in absence of a situation where violence will likely directly result from this communication, it’s also a bad law which shouldn’t exist but that’s a different conversation.
Hear, hear!
I agree with you insofar as the tweet was not an incitement to violence under the common law standard, or (in the US context) according to Brandenburg v. Ohio. But it’s pointless blaming a judge for adjudicating a case based on a law that doesn’t live up to our standards: the judge is appointed and paid to adjudicate on the law as it is, not as we might wish it to be.
That’s also true but the incriminated statement is not an incitement to violence, just a declaration that someone wouldn’t care if such violence ocurred. Further, it’s still not about anyone’s race, religion or sexual orientation.
Her mistake, sadly, was to plead guilty. Given your excellent points and some half-decent representation she must have had a reasonable chance of aquittal.
They will have strong-armged her by telling that she’s going to go to jail either way and that her only option to get something less than the minimum sentence would be to save the judge the hassle of coming up with a justification for that by simply admitting everything she was accused of.
That’s doubtlessly how all of these guilty please were secured. There’s something rotten in the state of England.
I look forward to reading your next Ukraine will win post
Agreed, but does the law therefore by definition also not allow Judges to practice two tier justice as there appears to be a wide interpretation of the seriousness of the offence committed? Which also means justice like a lot of things nowadays can be and is politicised.
The root cause is in Westminster, and spreads out through the police and the CPS. Judges have the least discretion in this system.
I watched the blackbelt barrister on youtube talking about this who went through the sentencing guidelines. One issue is the trade off between pleading guilty and the resulting sentence. She accepted the charge, presumably to benefit from a 30% reduction in the sentence, but at that point the judge’s freedom was limited. The judge’s report made this clear when he categorised the crime as per the guidelines. The speed with which she was tried and sentenced also followed on from her admission of guilt. It is expected that she will serve 40% of the sentence, so will be in jail for 12 months.
Tobes ! Can you help this woman ?
The comment I want to write would get me life.
It’s worked well hasn’t it…. We are all extremely careful of what we now post….
It was a case of brevity being the sole of wit.
I went face-to-face with policeman outside of the Houses of Commons. Told them all what I think, straight to their masked faces. And I’d do it again. Here it’s rather preaching to the converted.
Well done.
Agents of the State, that’s all they are.
I just confined myself to throwing tennis balls ai Parliament in one of the freedom/anti vaxx marches.
And plastering a few Police Vans with anti vax posts
Yes good fun wasn’t it! Only downer was discovering my throwing arm wasn’t quite what it used to be.
Exactly. If the content under the line on this website were reproduced on social media, we’d have a new ThoughtCrime department and the prisons would fill up with DS readers!
“Equality before the law”, a very old and essential cornerstone of our common law -vigorously upheld.
Lol.
You know that if this guy walks there’s going to be serious trouble, because if there’s anyone actually ”inciting violence” here it’s him;
”I’m sure we will all be watching carefully to see what justice this man receives following today’s appalling verdict.
We shall see if it’s only white working class Brits that the establishment has declared war on.”
https://x.com/LozzaFox/status/1847047826733252815
What about Jo Brand advocating throwing battery acid over Nigel Farage? Not even charged let alone banged up, but then again she’s a lefty so that’s ok. Thank goodness there’s no two-tier justice system operating.
Yes it’s a case of ‘freedom of speech’ being applied selectively once again. The evidence of double standards is undeniable.
Or Chris Packham publicly airing his views that the public should take the law into their own hands and blow up oil refineries, which was allowed to run absent any challenge by Channel 4.
Please also check out his guy Streeting who is actually in government.
I am trying to get the link for you from X
I cannot seem to get the link to copy. But if you look at posts by Leilani Dowding and scroll down to the recent one about things said by Wes Streeting you will see what I am referring to
“Inciting violence” is being done in more than one way. There are 2 ways of looking at this inequitable sentencing: On the one hand we could say that writing words online are being deemed more harmful than manifest violence. But the other way of looking at it is to imply that violent acts are less harmful than a tweeting offense. With a view to the latter perspective, this this framing physical violence as even more innocuous than writing a drunken social media post. In this way it actually encourages violence, as it redirects the focus of what is “harmful” away from what is actually harmful in a manifest, painful way.
Jail concerned and angry Brits for social media posts and Albanian thugs go free.
We’re living in an anarcho-tyranny.
It’s just one rogue judge.
/sarc
Is Melbourne Inman a real name – or just made up to hide his incompetence?
At first glance I read it as Imam – took a long hard second look to read it as typed….
Another example of how crime pays in the UK
She’s a self-declared Conservative/conservative ….. so she deserved “special treatment” in our Two-Tier State.
Let’s not forget it’s 31 months having plead guilty.
Assuming she’s admitted guilt from the start and cooperated she should’ve received a 30% discount.
So they’re actually saying that a tweet is worth 3.5 years…
Well said Laurie. We shouldn’t forget this lady as she languishes in jail. Nor the others who’ve been incarcerated for stupid tweets. They are symbols of our lost liberty.
Including Julie Sweeney, formerly sole carer of a sick husband.
When the Blob mob is out to get you I think it is a mistake to admit anything or volunteer any information beyond what may be legally required. Have your day in court, with good legal representation. If nothing else it will cost the State more money and expose their shenanigans.
This has been building for years since Blair first wiped his arse on the statute book. And as these utterly shocking new rulings show, it’s now a perfectly oiled system to start jailing political opponents or anyone the government doesn’t like.
This corrupt lethally stupid judge belongs in a banana republic.
Judge Inman is clearly completely unfit to continue in that role.
Independent judiciary? Who decided to free lags early so as to make room for post-Southport tweeters? It’s almost as if they knew in advance how Judges would sentence those who had been advised to plead guilty.
Wow, I think this says it all. I reckon as long as Starmer’s in charge this is going to be the ‘new norm’. And the dunderhead is still referring to Sunak as ”Prime Minister”! Only 100 odd days in so God knows what the 6 month anniversary is going to look like. I think the guy has zero redeeming features, that’s the word on the street anyway;
”When I was cancelled 4 years ago, there was only one person in public life who called for me to be prosecuted: Sir Keir Starmer. I could have gone to prison. Starmer is a nasty, vengeful man who hates free speech and freedom.”
David Starkey on the Sceptic.
https://x.com/toadmeister/status/1847178333873750246
Very much worth listening to the whole Starkey interview always intelligent, informative and entertaining.
The person who belongs in court should be Kneel. Crimes committed since taking office would ensure he never saw daylight again. He is utterly depraved.
But when you’re a member of a multi-culturally-enriching rape gang, the police and courts don’t go near you.
People like Yasmin-Alibhai-Brown think her imprisonment is just fine, but as mentioned, attacking people in a pub, armed with weapons (actual physical violence) as opposed to naughty words is a prime example of two tier policing. As for the Mary Whitehouse types attacking Mr Edwards, again, this is nothing more than a thought crime and is no like for like comparison.
In a sense yes, I learned about it in a more neutral/positive way reading HereticTOC website by Tom O’Carroll, Chair of the 1970s PIE. He is eloquent in his writing. MRA websites like Angry Harry etc brought the question of child sexuality to my attention.
Apart from that there’s much we agree on. BTW I am not a paedophile, there is a sliding scale with attraction to minors (below the age of consent). You will find many heterosexuals come under that category. You should try and understand rather than throwing News of the World type slurs.
The small children being raped, tortured, tormented and abused were not thoughts, they were real. People who believe that sexual satisfaction obtained by viewing the suffering of innocent children is in any way excusable are a danger to society. I prefer to be a Mary Whitehouse type. Edwards should have been sent down because he and his ilk create demand for this obscenity.
If you believe every pic is a crime scene, then fine, but there are many crimes captured on film and photo. The viewer is just the viewer. This is a civil liberties issue that many are too scared to confront.
Well said. Thank you for standing up for helpless little ones.
You are on the side of the angels.
I don’t think that’s a particularly ugly comment, just someone who’s angry speaking in the heat of the moment. It certainly wouldn’t have commanded any particular attention had it been made in a pub. Peope sometimes verbally blow off steam and say things they don’t really mean in this way just because they’re emotionally agitated. This certainly shouldn’t be a punishable offense for as long as it isn’t followed by any action and not directly targetted against anyone.
True, they could use the Brandenburg vs Ohio test.
Words fail me (almost). In the logic of two-tier justice, criminal acts that cause severe physical pain, hospitalization, trauma and mental scarring, are worth 10 months less in prison than a certain arrangement of pixels on a computer screen that you can choose to ignore (just as long as the perpetrators of the former are waving a Palestine flag).
I believe this Labour government has become a national emergency – genuinely.
The Monster Raving Loonies would do a better job.
This certainly communicates that British judges and probably, also the current British goverment, believe that wrongthink materialising itself in form of wrongspeak is a much more serious issue than causing life-threatening injuries to bystanders as part of an unprovoked violent attack of an armed mob on a private property and the people within it.
Someone’s moral compass is seriously f***ed here.
The mistake you make is to assume a moral compass. Morals and the law have become absurdly divergent.
Well done to Laurie Wastell and the Daily Sceptic for not forgetting these victims of injustice. Here are some great quotes from the public in the DM: — “We live in a time when the Govt effectively runs an entrapment operation on the public, in order to come down hard on them when they step out of line.” — “If you didn’t realize that the system is no longer there to help & protect you, perhaps this might be a wake up call to see things have changed.” — “I have lived through the troubles in N Ireland all my life and have never seen anyone jailed for 2-3 years for rioting. Indeed a week after these riots there were bad riots in Derry with the police standing by benignly.” — “Jailed for for 20 months at Bristol Crown Court after he joined an anti-immigration march in Bristol on August 3″ WHAT????” — “How many Romanians were locked up after the Leeds riots?” — “Lots of fast-track ‘justice’ – meanwhile – in other violent cases – the police are busy consulting with community leaders – to see if jail is an appropriate solution – but be assured – there is no two-tier… Read more »
Never forgive or forget what these politicians have done to our country.
Quote from the Sentencing Remarks (link in Ian Rons’ comment):
It is strength of our society that it is both diverse and inclusive.
To Judge Melbourne Inman, this is apparently a dogma beyond questioning.
Yes, he fails to mention that nobody was ever asked, and nobody ever voted, to make our society diverse and inclusive.
So he is merely expressing his own Leftist political views, which are completely irrelevant to the case.
The whole paragraph is like this. The next thing he brings up is the “small minority” seeking to terrorize the innocent majority with violent actions (remember when this “small minority terrorizing a majority” was called The Unvaccinated?) and how his job as a judge it to punish them to deter others from following in their wake. This just is generic, political waffle.
I’d love to write a point-by-point rebuttal of all of this nauseating blathering but I have neither the time nor the ability to do so.
🙁
Another quote (22):
Similarly, whilst I accept you regret your actions and I have been referred
to messages in which you say that you disagree with racism and violence,
it is clear from the evidence of your own words in the days following
your actions, what you said to the police and what you said to the
probation officer that you have little insight into, or acceptance of, your
actions.
As I understand that, it means that Ms Connelly’s belief that she’s innocent is an aggravating factor to her crime. How dare she!
Please see this article by Brandon Smith which really does point to the reason behind all this: Britain Is Proof: Globalists Plan To Use Migrants As A Mercenary Army Against The West – Alt-Market.us “My argument was that migrants from the Third World are not merely being used as unwitting tools for cultural saturation of the West. They’re not being shipped in by the millions to simply live off the fruits of our labour and our ancestors’ labours. I believe they are being brought into the US, the UK and Europe as enforcers for the establishment.” “Think about it – They are essentially bought and paid for. They are mercenaries recruited with offers of easy citizenship, government handouts and the opportunity to brutalize the very western (and generally white) populations they despise. And, they are allowed to do this while hiding behind government law enforcement agencies for protection.” “British citizens have been victimized for over a decade by migrant attacks and organized crime. The two-tier policing system in the UK continues to protect these migrants from retribution while the government hides statistics that show how much violence is being committed by non-citizens.” “The post-war British populace has long lived without… Read more »
H, I suspect you are closer to the truth than many will find palatable.
Tens of thousands of like minded people peacefully marching in London on the 26th October will have their say on the matter. The masses will be heard. Even if the MSM refuse to cover it.
There is a Chinese curse which says “May he live in interesting times.” We are certainly living in interesting times.
Personally, I worry for my grandchildren. Only because I’d like them to be able to enjoy the relative ‘freedoms’ and quality of life I have enjoyed since childhood (I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and I admit I took it all for granted).
There is a chance they will never know what they haven’t had, and so what they have missed out upon. How could they?
I guess, like my grandparents generation, it’ll be up to them to forge whatever world they want to live on. Reap what you sow.
Please do keep us posted on that British Patriots March in London on October 26th. Already the Communist Traitors are organizing a counter-march, backed by the TRADE UNIONS, no less. It is shameful:
“Download the flyer (edit to add local transport details):https://www.standuptoracism.org.uk/wp-content2015/uploads/2024/09/stop-tommy-robinson-26-Oct-A5.pdf
Please do keep us posted about the British Patriots March, because the Trade Unions, led by Ethnic African from Ethiopia Daniel Kebede, have already organized a shameful Communist Counter-march, as you can see here:
Stop Tommy Robinson, stop the far right – Saturday 26 October
“NATIONAL DEMO – Fascist Tommy Robinson and his far right mates are coming to London on Sat 26 Oct to spread racism and Islamophobia. It’s time to stand up and stop them. We’re calling a national demo to unite against far right racism and hate. Be part of it. More info coming soon #StandUpToRacism”
Stop Tommy Robinson on 26th October – model motion for trade unionists
‘They‘ are getting worried about the ‘Tommy Robinson effect’ and similar. And so ‘they‘ should.
Against government oppression we are now completely defenceless. We are trapped in a web of digital slavery and there nothing anyone can do about it. We have agreed and consented and continue so to do every time we use a device.
The creepy thing here is that Starmer is instructing our so called independent judiciary how to hand out so called justice. The PM is, in my view, leaning towards being a totalitarian communist.
Only leaning? It is the exact position he wants, just like Stalin!
So another nail in the coffin of free speech. A prison sentence for what you write online about an event at which you were not present! Voltaire will be spinning in his grave. Positively Orwellian. Good luck grandchildren in this brave new world.
Knighthood moi?
This country disgusts me, thats not justice, yes you may feel the comment was crass, but as a mother herself, and myself, I understand her reaction, still lets let the real criminals out, talk about two tier, should be a campaign to get her freed, I’d join.
“An ugly comment, to be sure, but the thought that someone would be going to prison for it, let alone for nearly three years, will be disquieting to many.”
Disquieting?
That has to be a serious contender for ‘understatement of the year’.