As allegations emerge that FSU member Lucy Connolly has been mistreated in prison, Richard Tice MP is preparing to introduce a new Bill in Parliament aimed at tackling the kind of disproportionate sentencing that resulted in her receiving a 31-month jail term for a single tweet.
On Wednesday 24 June, Mr Tice, the Reform UK MP for Boston and Skegness, will introduce a Ten-Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons aimed at bringing greater accountability to Britain’s criminal justice system. The Criminal Cases Review (Public Petition) Bill would allow members of the public to petition the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to re-examine sentences they believe are either too harsh or too lenient. In effect, this would mean a sentence could be appealed without the need to hire expensive lawyers.
The need for such a mechanism is clear. FSU member Lucy Connolly received a 31-month prison sentence for a social media post made just hours after three young girls were murdered in Southport by Axel Rudakubana. Connolly wrote: “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. I feel physically sick knowing what these [Southport] families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it.”
No one disputes that her post was deeply offensive – nasty, even. But more than two-and-a-half years behind bars is plainly disproportionate, and it should trouble anyone who believes the law must be applied evenly, without fear or favour.
Especially when you consider that Philip Prescott, who joined a racially aggravated mob attack on a mosque and threw missiles at police in the wake of the Southport murders, received a shorter sentence. The same judge who jailed Lucy gave just 20 months to Haris Ghaffar, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder during last summer’s riots. And further afield, Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, who admitted paying for sex with a child prostitute in Telford as part of a grooming gang, was given a more lenient sentence than Lucy.
Concern about the growing use of long custodial sentences for online speech – particularly when they exceed those handed down for violent or exploitative crimes – has deepened following allegations from Mr Tice, who visited Lucy in prison on Tuesday and claims she has been mistreated by officers at HMP Peterborough.
According to Mr Tice, the incident occurred after Lucy was told she would not be moved to an enhanced wing with full privileges but would instead be placed in a 23-hour-a-day lockdown alongside the prison’s most dangerous inmates. When she challenged the decision, she was allegedly restrained with handcuffs and relocated. “Five days after the incident, the bruises on her wrists are still significant – yellow. It was obviously horrible what she went through.
“You have to think it’s politically motivated,” he continued. “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 episode has reinforced calls for reform. At present, members of the public have no formal route to challenge sentencing discrepancies unless they fall within a narrow set of legal criteria. Mr Tice’s Bill – which he has dubbed “Lucy’s Bill” in honour of our member whose ordeal brought this issue to national attention – would change that, empowering ordinary citizens to refer cases to the CCRC and, where appropriate, onward to the Court of Appeal or even the Supreme Court.
Last month, the Free Speech Union (FSU) supported Lucy’s unsuccessful appeal against her sentence and members of our team were present in court throughout. We have seen first-hand the impact this is having on her. She should be at home with her family, not locked up while her husband, Ray, battles bone marrow failure and her 12-year-old daughter struggles to cope without her mother.
The FSU believes this Bill could play a vital role in restoring public confidence in a justice system that must be seen to operate fairly and without political or ideological bias.
There’s more on this story here.
