Engineer Given Half Lucy Connolly’s Sentence for Near-Identical Tweet
A two-tier justice row has erupted after an engineer was jailed for half as long as Lucy Connolly over a near-identical tweet, while a Labour MP who punched a constituent to the ground was spared jail completely. The Telegraph has more.
Joseph Haythorne, 26, posted “Go on Rotherham burn any hotels with those scruffy b——s in it” on August 4th last year as violence erupted in the South Yorkshire town.
At Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, the engineer from Surrey, who admitted inciting racial hatred, was jailed for 15 months.
His jail term is less than half the 31 months handed to Connolly, a mother of one who is married to a Conservative councillor.
Critics claimed the sentence was “a clear example of two-tier justice”.
She was jailed in October last year after posting an online message on the day of the Southport murders, that read: “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 politicians with them.”
The 42 year-old, who lost a child of her own in tragic circumstances, deleted the post fewer than four hours later, but not before it had been viewed 310,000 times.
Her husband, Ray Connolly told the Telegraph: “He can thank his lucky stars his partner isn’t a Tory councillor.”
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary said: “There are a lot of inconsistencies in sentencing. A rapist recently received only 28 months and the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, refused to allow that sentence to be reviewed.
“It cannot be right that Lucy Connolly got a longer sentence for a tweet than someone convicted of rape.”
Speaking about the sentence handed to Haythorne, Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, said: “Another ludicrous jail sentence. Fifteen months for a nasty offensive tweet lasting 17 minutes.
“On this basis, if justice is consistent [and] not two-tier, then Bob Vylan could face being jailed for over five years for his vile singing at Glastonbury.”
Lord Young, the General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: “No one should be sent to prison for a tweet. This is not a good use of valuable prison spaces that should be kept for thieves, muggers, stabbers and drug dealers.
“How can it be right that a Labour MP who repeatedly punched a constituent, knocking him to the ground, received a suspended sentence, but a 26 year-old should be jailed for 15 months for one ill-advised tweet?
“It’s a clear example of two-tier justice and risks undermining public confidence in our criminal justice system.”
Worth reading in full.
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I suspect had Lucy been married to a Labour Councillor she’d have been golden.🙄
“It’s a clear example of two-tier justice and risks undermining public confidence in our criminal justice system.”
“Undermining public confidence?”
Just to bring Toby up to speed – public confidence in our justice system disappeared many, many years ago. Two-tier is a polite way of downplaying the hypocrisy and corruption which is endemic in our legal system. The judiciary is rotten to the core.
Sorry – posted mine and then saw yours. I agree entirely!
Lord Toby was speaking to a much wider audience, including politicians, lawyers, judges, the police force and the world at large, who mistakenly think the British Justice System is still a respectable institution.
Lord Young said: “It’s a clear example of two-tier justice and risks undermining public confidence in our criminal justice system.”
I’m a big fan of our host; however, I think public confidence in our criminal justice system drained away some time ago.
Lord Young was addressing a much wider audience than the public, aiming also at the “elites”.
Yeah well, you see, the engineer didn’t suggest deporting ‘the treacherous government and politicians’… so obviously it wasn’t as bad.
This article just further debunks the myth that women are treated favourably and given an easier ride by the justice system, though, doesn’t it? Let’s be real, the ones who get the easiest ride of all are the paedos caught with child sex abuse images, who are always male and 99>% of the time are white.
I’d say the UK judiciary are a law unto themselves and it’s demonstrably very rare that the punishment fits the crime.
Pakistani pedophile torturers and rapists served less time than Lucy Connolly.
Hew Edwards Pedophile no jail time.
its who you know, and the influence your community has that counts. The law is no longer blind
Yeah, but Hew Edwards had impeccable left wing credentials. He was one of the righteous people. Ah, and let’s not forget he had mental health issues. Practically a saint.
Class and politics don’t feature into it. They all get off, regardless. In a society that’s allegedly discriminating against and victimizing white men, that sure as hell doesn’t translate to these paedos and predators, whose crimes are basically now decriminalized. This account covers this topic and features loads of examples;
”BOURNEMOUTH: Anthony Smith, 77, caught with 1000s of CSA images & videos of children as young as 4 being r*ped, has walked free
Smith said he’s had an “addiction” “for many years”. He searched for most horrific abuse – but at least he didn’t post a spicy tweet
35 ‘rehab’ days”
https://x.com/Wommando/status/1940661997710037080
”RIVINGTON: Michael Linfoot, 24, Callum Hesketh, 24, and Thomas Rae, 24, who lured a 15YO girl into a van, s3xually abused her & livestreamed it to their friends who turned up to join, have walked free.
DC Booth of GMP said: “I hope today’s result gives her a sense of justice”
https://x.com/Wommando/status/1938609211060949027
”Child protection expert Jim Gamble calls GP’s sentence “shocking” after 200+ CSA images found.
Dr Alan Trevor Campbell walked free with 75 hours community service.
Public Prosecution Service is considering an appeal.
Gamble urges a safeguarding review of all past patients.”
https://x.com/Wommando/status/1937895401459462203
I have to question why so many judges do not seem to see paedophilia as a serious crime.
It’s almost like the courts have thrown their hands up in the air and declared they’ve given up, seeing as I think the jury’s now in that such individuals cannot be rehabilitated. So what to do? Prisons are already bursting at the seams so imagine if these all got sent down. Yes, great they’d be all off the streets but only for a short time and what would that achieve in the long-term? So I appreciate they’re in a bind but that’s not to say that such crimes should go unpunished, and sticking somebody’s mugshot in the paper and putting them on a sex offenders register is not ‘punishment’. It makes me wonder if there are more paedophiles now than decades ago, given that the advent of the internet must’ve been like a gift to these perverts, such as the elderly paedo in the first example above. Were they all just lying low, latent and lurking in the shadows, getting their kicks some other way or their urges lying dormant, or did the internet maybe ‘create’ more due to the convenience factor ( and the subsequent advent of the ‘dark web’ ) and so demand and supply increased massively as… Read more »
I’m not bold enough to suggest an answer to that question.
I should have thought that was obvious. Clearly a very strong investigation is needed into all of them.
Has he already applied for PIP?
It would have been interesting to see if he had even been found guilty by a jury.
This tweet is not near-identical. It’s actually calling for hotels used to house illegal immigrants to be burnt down while Connolly’s didn’t.
So many people seem to be deficient in their understanding of plain English. It wasn’t any sort of call to action, it was an expression of indifference from her, unlike Haythorne whcih couldn’t be misinterpreted, but neither justify jail time.
Certainly not for stirring up racial hatred as illegal immigrant isn’t a race. It’s someone who came to Britain in violation of the applicable laws. Technically, that’s a crime. But it’s not treated as crime, while demands that it ought to be sanctioned are.
Justice shouldn’t be at the discretion of Lord Hermer. He is not independent of political influence and should not be involved in deciding who is prosecuted and who isn’t.
Spot on!
Thanks for showing the photo of the cheerful, unmasked protesters starting a wheelie bin fire against a CONCRETE WALL.
Concrete doesn’t burn. They weren’t trying to burn immigrants,
and NOT A SINGLE HAIR ON THE HEAD OF ANY IMMIGRANT WAS HARMED…
in ANY of the protests.
NOT ONE.
The only people harmed were the Police,
and the British Patriots Protesting Against the Murder of Children.
How does the “engineer’s tweet” incite racial hatred? I see no references to race in it.
Lucy Connolly was given 31 months jail for ‘not caring’ about something. Literally.
Lord Hermer is a malignant twit who should be in Belmarsh.
Cases that result from poorly advised guilty pleas do not set binding precedent in the way appellate decisions do.
If Haythorn’s tweet could be seen to be encouraging of violence, unlike Connolly’s, but Haythorn doesn’t incite any hatred towards any specific race. The prosecution though may be racist in interpreting that ‘scruffy bastards’ refers to some distinct racial group, whereas in fact it is totally nonspecific.
Guilty pleas do not create binding legal precedent, but in high-profile or politically charged cases, they can still exert a precedential effect — shaping norms, influencing prosecutions, and chilling lawful expression. In such contexts, poor legal advice does more than harm a defendant; it distorts the legal environment.
I am interested as to why some crimes are “not crimes”, often due to the Human Rights act. There is NO legal precedent as to why these crimes are treated differently, and certainly no Law. Coming to Britain as an illegal immigrant is a crime, which is ignored because they claim to be asylum seekers. Asylum can be claimed from any Country in the World by applying to any Embassy of any Country. It is not necessary to come as a completely anonymous person and SHOULD immediately result in deportation because there is zero proof that asylum is needed! It could be anyone from anywhere running from anything, including serious crime (and this is often the case!)! Britain, and anywhere else, should require the whole nine yards of documentation, as almost anywhere else does. Try going the USA without any documentation and you will find out! Brits can only live there with full criminal and background checks, exams in English, learning and an exam about the American way of life and culture. F R O with the European “‘Uman Rights Act”, it is nothing to do with us anyway. We do not need undocumented strangers, or to keep them. The… Read more »