Dan Wootton Outspoken - LUCY CONNOLLY SPEAKS OUT IN FIRST INTERVIEW AFTER BEING LOCKED UP IN JAIL FOR 380 DAYS FOR A TWEET

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

Britain’s political prisoner Lucy Connolly - locked up for 380 days for a tweet she deleted within hours - sits down with Dan for her first interview, just one day after being released from prison.�� THEN IN THE UNCANCELLED AFTERSHOW: Lady Colin Campbell is unleashed on the big royal stories of the day, including revealing Donald Trump’s fury at Michael Wolff’s Princess Diana sex slur.  Sign up to watch live or on demand and totally ad free at https://www.outspoken.live LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos every day: https://youtube.com/@danwoottonoutspoken?si=-2BhmEbBSN1fyESS?sub_confirmation=1 ---------- Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dan-wootton-outspoken/id1762436723 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/19Ltoneek2MSPL10CpSA1J?si=8f6d84e2db56448c ---------- Follow Dan on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@outspokendan Follow Dan on Twitter: https://x.com/danwootton Follow Dan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danwootton/ Follow Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danwootton/?hl=en #DanWootton#DanWoottonOutspoken#news#outspoken#uknews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No spend, no bias, no censorship. I'm Dan Wooden. This is a special edition of Outspoken episode number 298 from Northampton. You might think that you know Lucy Connolly. I mean, she's on the front pages of today's newspapers, the paparazzi, got her outside her mom's house here in Northampton. But this is a woman who you have never heard speak before. Today, that changes. Slippery Stama, our authoritarian prime minister, decided to turn Lucy Connolly into the pin-up girl, the staying silent. But today, he has failed to silence her, and Lucy will speak for the first time just one day after her release from prison. It's her chance to tell her story.

What really happened? Why did she post that tweet on the day of the Southport massacre and what happened next? I believe that Lucy Connolly is going to become Kirstama's worst nightmare in the weeks and months to come. As the Trump administration looks closely at this case, and we can reveal today is planning to meet with Lucy Connolly tomorrow. So this is her story. In her words, do not believe the mainstream media lies. Of course, we will be back with our uncanceled after show on Substack as well. Lady Colin Campbell is in the house today. She's unleashed as well. So if you do want to sign up to watch that show after our episode with Lucy, www.outspoken.live is the address. And of course, because it is a Friday, Lucy and I are going to be revealing the worst Britain in the world this week. There's still a chance to vote. Your nominees from Monday, Ricky Jones.

I'm sure Lucy is going to have something to say about the Labour counsellor from Tuesday, Benjamin Butterworth. I think that was because he was saying that if you put up the England flag, you were some type of far-right racist. On Wednesday, Angela Rainer, Red Rainer, the Deputy Prime Minister for caring more about Pakistan than the United Kingdom. And on Thursday, Rachel from accounts, Rachel Reeves, as she drives the country into an economic hellscape. So, your chance to vote, your final chance to vote, on the Post's tab of YouTube right now. But this is an interview that has been 380 days in the making. So let's go. Lucy Connolly.

Hi. So good to see you. And it's so good that you have your voice back. Absolutely. Because for 380 days, you have had to see the mainstream media try and tell your story, try and paint you as something that I know you feel that you're not. Couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, I should never have said what I said.

It was wrong. I'm no far-white activist. I'm no far-white thug. In fact, this far-white thing is just not even a thing, is it really? Let's face it. It's a way to deride patriots. It is, you know. You're shutting people's voices down.

So let's give them a label. Let's tell them they're bad people because then they'll be quiet. So you're a patriotic mum who believes in our country but is very worried about what's happening. Absolutely. That's all it, but for me, it's all it boils down to is our children and whether they're safe

and how we can keep them safe and we should always be looking to look at better ways to keep them safe and doing the utmost, and I don't believe that currently that's being done. Now look, we've got lots of time today. So we can tell this full story, and I think it is really important

that we go back to the day of the South Massacre, because I believe it was a day that changed the United Kingdom forever. Sometimes one of those stories is just so horrendous and taps into something in our national psyche. But obviously for you, this was another level because the loss of your son, at just 19 months old, Harry as a result of NHS neglect in 2013 means that you are acutely aware of what it is like to lose a child,

something you never get over. No, it's a life sentence of grief. And that was my first, you know, first thought for those families. They dropped their children off at what should have been one of their best days of their life, you know, girls of that age, love dance, love Taylor Swift, you know, should have been an amazing day.

And then they should be picking their children up, asking them all about their day. How did your day go and listening to their stories? And they never got to pick their children up. I can't even begin to tell you how, there's no words. But you know how it feels. I know how it feels. And I can't tell you in any words how their life will have changed and how this will become a life sentence of grief.

And of course we all want to keep, you know, memories of our children alive. And they're doing an amazing job, you know, the dance school, and one of them running lots of marathons and I completely understand where they're coming from they want their girls never to be forgotten

and remembered for how amazing they were and happy which is amazing but that's all they have now isn't it? Your BB and Elsie and Alice are people I think that we all

felt the loss of as well so just take me through that day so you're a childminder you have what's described as the United Nations of a whole load of kids you're looking after of all races, right? All ethnicities from all parts of the world.

And I think that day you had a number of children that you were looking after. Yeah, I would have had at least, I don't know, five, six, seven, eight. It was some holidays, wasn't it? So I'd have had a lot of children from my babies up to the children that were off school that day in my care.

And so you're rushed off your feet and then how do you hear the news. I think it was on a news channel in the day or it was Twitter. You know what? I don't know. And you were very active on social media, right? You followed me and you had a voice and you would post about what was in the news. All the time. Yeah. And that day, after hearing the news, what was your emotional reaction? Because Ray, your husband, Ray,

who's obviously become a friend of ours, a conservative party. counsellor at the time he recalled lucy coming home and you being in a real emotional state like this had hit you right in a in a in a different way to maybe other people watching the news because of the loss of your child it's the loss of my child obviously and then also I was a childminder I looked after children day in day out you love children I loved them I loved all the children. I love all the children that I look after. I treat them like my own.

I don't, you know, if my daughter gets, they get, you know, that they're not treated any different to mine, and I love them all dearly, and I take care of them as I would, you know, take care of my own. And I just, I can't, I just can't comprehend how, as a country, we could have let this happen. And it turns out it was worse than, I knew it was going to be bad. I knew it would be, oh, he was known to this authority,

that authority. knew that we weren't we're not silly but it was it was worse than i could ever have imagined and i truly believe he could have completely been stopped and those poor children those poor girls would should still be alive today and so ray comes home you're an emotional state have you posted anything at that point or are you just digested i think so i think he normally comes home around around six-ish quarter to six i think and you posted at 8 30 i don't know i can't remember And I mean, obviously, this is a post that destroyed your life. And I know that it is going to be painful to think about.

But do you remember what was going through your head, what you were feeling, what you were trying to put it across? Yeah, I think for me, because we were treated so badly after Harry died by the hospital, by the police, by the CPS, the very people that are supposed to protect us and help us, they didn't. and they continue to let everybody down and it does make me so angry because I just think how many times does the child have to die how many times does X, Y and Z have to happen

before things really do change not lessons have been learned you know all of this nonsense that they trot out all the time make change you know I don't ever want to see this in my lifetime again nobody wants to ever see this in their lifetime I mean the Manchester bombings were horrific

I remember really vividly walking it happened the Manchester Bombers and the next morning my daughter was in reception and I remember her skipping down the road with their big Jojo Bowers they had in at the time and completely oblivious to all the evil in the world and me and my friend were crying and about the children and the Manchester Bombs and I remember saying to her she's going to ask me

to go to concerts soon and I don't think I can let her And funnily enough, while I was in prison, she went to Taylor Swift with my sister. And at my mum, I was an absolute rocking wreck the whole time she was there and thinking, you know, like desperate to ring and find out that there was home safe and, you know. And there was a terror threat against Taylor Swift's. Definitely. And I remember saying to my mum, she's not going. She's not going.

Mum's like, you can't stop her going, Lucy. You just can't, you can't, you know, she needs to go. But you've lost your one child. So the thought of losing your second, I imagine, is unimaginable. I mean, we all worry about. All parents worry about their children. But when you've lost a child, you probably unreasonably worry about any living children

and think, you know, the unimaginable happened to me. And, you know, it could happen again. And for people who don't know, this is not a sob story. What happened to Harry was covered in the national media, at the time. It was. And even though criminal charges were not brought, and I know that's something that to this day,

that is something that's deeply upsetting to you and Ray, it was decided, it was official, that it was NHS neglect that killed your son at 19 months old. And you woke up at 4 a.m. in the morning and discovered him lying dead next to you. And he had to try and resuscitated. Yeah, it's too late.

And that is a trauma that must never go away. Of course, you can't. Like I said, I don't, I don't even have the words as somebody that's gone through that. I mean, it is true. Your brain is very clever and it does get easier to live with in the sense of you learn to rebuild your life and kind of move forward. You never move on, you just move forward and you rebuild your life. And, but that trauma never goes. never it's always there and sometimes i'll think about it and i'm like no no no i'm desperately

trying to put it to the back of my head and and as well as trauma i guess it's fair to say a deep distrust of the system of the establishment that's probably an end of statement you know i feel as a family harry was massively failed and then we then continued to be massively failed by the authorities with the lies and the cover-up and, you know, just the lack of empathy and the lack of wanting to do the right thing by the police, by the CPS, by the hospital. Your post on X contained four pretty crucial words that a lot of free speech activists have said moves your post from something that people could have claimed was inciting violence to actually being an expression of frustration. And that was you said for all I care. So can you just talk to me

a little bit about your post and what you were meaning? Because of course one thing that people don't necessarily understand is that when you wrote that there was no sense or sign that there was going to be any violence whatsoever that any hotels were going to burn whatsoever? No, of course not. And it was just an emotional outburst. It was just a very flippant, unnecessary comment, which I later thought, you know, you cannot say things like that,

take it down. I knew that. But at the time, in that very moment, I was so emotional, so upset, so distressed. And I don't believe anybody, if they say to me, have you never been in a situation where you've been having an argument with somebody, either face to face online or whatever

and something's come out of your mouth and you think, oh God, I wish, I'm so sorry, I wish I'd never said that. I defy you to find me anybody that can look me in the eye and tell me that they've never said or done anything they regret. It's human nature.

So I could obviously just put that on just out of pure, it was out of pure rage. If anything, it was more of a rage. And like you said, there had been no riots. There had been no you know, burning, you know, setting fire. to hotels, there had been no attacks on police and all of these things that were to follow. She came much later, days later.

A good week later, you know, and as soon as that did kick off, I was the first one to go, oh my God, what are they doing? If nothing else, it's not the way to get, we know that that's not the way to get things done and we're never going to get listened to, you know, behaving like that. And I tweeted as much, please stop this. This is not the way, you know, to be heard. And those words for all I care Make it clear

That you were not attempting to incite violence Of course I wasn't like You'd have to be not really in your right mind To actually Like I said what we say and what we do And mean are two very different things Especially when we're in an emotional state You know

I mean I've never said it to anyone But I've heard people tell people to drop dead And all sorts and gone you know like you can't say that they don't mean it they're just really really angry and then they'll you know they'll calm down and they'll apologize i'm so sorry i take that back i really didn't mean that and all is forgiven but obviously i wrote mine down so it was and as we know you put something on the internet it's there forever and you went out you walked the dogs yeah calm down after what had been a really difficult day get back to your house and completely

unprompted, make the decision to delete the post. Absolutely. So that's my thing with me. Like if I get angry or upset, my thing is exercise. Go to the gym. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Calm down.

Be away from people. You know, when they're annoying at home, going out. Walking the dog. So, you know, I went out for quite a while, put my AirPods in, just walked and walked to calm myself down, came home, picked up my phone and thought, you cannot write that that is not an okay thing to write took it down because by which point I'd calm down a little bit I wasn't you know raging as much I was obviously still really upset but you know the red mist had descended by them and for a number of days you presumably thought

this was the end of it yeah I didn't I didn't think anything of it I didn't read any of the comments on there or anything before I just deleted it carried on posting on Twitter like I normally would with my normal stuff and nothing was said and I didn't I didn't even give it a second thought if I'm honest but someone and I'm fascinated to know if you know anything about who or where this came from but someone knowing that you are the wife of a conservative counselor screenshot at the post and as the tensions in the UK ratcheted up your post through this screenshot not your original post because it was long gone, went viral. Yeah.

How did that happen? I don't know. It was definitely some kind of political campaign because it started off. The first tweet I saw was like, look at this Tory councillor's wife, being racist and this. I think initially it was maybe somebody local that was like maybe possibly a Labour activist,

something like that, that wanted to unseat Ray, that wanted to cause trouble for Ray because it seemed to be more about him than it did about me. You know, they seemed to be more bothered. that I was married to a Tory counsellor than what I'd said or anything like that that it was very much politically motivated

whoever did it and whoever started that motion off was 100% you know politically motivated because why would you bother to mention that? You would just say look at this awful horrendous thing this person has written we're going to report her why bring politics into it? Why bring my husband into it?

He didn't know I'd wrote the tweet it's nothing to do with him he doesn't control what comes out of my mouth as though I don't hear him what I don't understand the fascination with him and him being a counsellor just and when do you start thinking holy fuck this is going to destroy my life when did you know that this was bigger than you I think it was the Monday before the Tuesday that I got arrested and I said to Ray I've just got really I had to fess up at this point I had to say to him done this really stupid thing

I explained the situation Because you could see it exploding online I could see and I know I tried I tried ignoring it I tried clothe you know deactivating for the day it just carried on it got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger

and bigger and I was thinking oh god you know so I had to fess up to him I think it was the Monday night and I told him what I'd done and I was crying he's like okay just calm down it'll be okay

it'll be okay they're not going to come for you the police aren't going to come for you just you know a mother and a child minder at home they're not going to come for you don't panic you know just trying to

you know, you were stupid, you shouldn't have done that. I've told you before about running your mouth off. You know, like we're very different, Ray and I. He will take time to collect himself and have a good think about what comes out of his mouth first. And I could probably, you know, do as taking a leaf out of his book. Because I'm just like straight in there with, you know, wah. But, and he's always telling me, please don't say that. So was he angry?

No, he wasn't angry with me. Ray's not an angry. Ray's really calm. He is. It takes a lot for him to shout at you. You know, like, he'll sit there and go, I'm not arguing with me. So he's trying to calm you down. And he's like, look, it'll be fine.

You took it down. And then the next day he could see that this wasn't dying down. So we'd then had a conversation about, and I had thought about this because it's difficult. Because it was just spiraling and spiraling and spiraling. And I was like, what do I do? Do I apologize? and release a statement. Do I ignore it and hope that it goes away? What do I do? It was a really difficult, because I didn't want to fuel the fire anymore. I didn't really know

what to do, so I just ignored it. And then I spoke to him, this was the Tuesday, and he said, look, I've been speaking to some of my colleagues, and I've been thinking, and we're all in agreements that, yeah, you probably should issue a statement, you know, but be very careful what you write, because you obviously don't want to add anything, you offend any more people. So that's what we agreed. And obviously we have a friend, you know, in their business that does that sort of thing. So he did write the apology for me. It doesn't mean to say I didn't mean it.

It just means that we were, you know, we were cautious and we were thinking we don't want to upset anybody else. I need to be really careful about what I put out here. This is what happens when you're caught up in a crisis and a scandal. I mean, I've gone through this whole thing. People call it the hostage video apology because you lose all sense of what's happening. mean when you're at the centre of one of these storms. And so usually someone else does end up drafting one of these things for you and saying, put this out and it will all be okay.

I'm not a media personality. I've never done TV. I've never done, you know, sometimes I guess, as you know, it comes with the territory and what you guys do. But I'm not in that game. So I was like, oh God, you know, what am I going to do? So the statement is drafted. At what time do the police turn up at the house?

I think it's about half three in the afternoon, half two, half three. No warning whatsoever. No, they just turned up. And what happens? How many police? So there was two initially. So I just literally got back from taking Eadie to the golf club, I think. And then they were ringing the doorbell.

And she checked and I said, it's the police. And she's like, why? I was like, I think I know. And I was like, so I pulled back up on the drive. And I don't think I didn't have many children that day because my car. I was in for a service, my big car. So I had raised car. That was another nightmare in itself

because he was kind of stuck at work then and someone had to go and pick him up. So the police were just leaving. But I thought, do you know what? Just get this over and do them. They're going to come and tell me off. They're going to come and tell me off for posting that post, rightly so.

Didn't for one minute think they were actually going to arrest me and carted me off. I had other people's children. I had my own child there. Had other people's children there. So I actually crossed the road And I said to them I think you just

You know I think you just rang my bell I think you're looking for me And they were like oh yeah yeah I said come on in so they come in That was it as soon as they came in We were arresting you da da da da da And normal speech Where's your phone

And I said well you know I've got the children here And I can't just go and leave the children I need to get Ray home To come and sit with the children And are you panicking? Yeah Are you crying?

I don't know I wasn't crying And I was just like You know like this is not my world. Don't forget this is not my world. I've never had the police on my door. And I wasn't expecting to be arrested. I was expecting to get a telling off.

You thought you were probably going to get a bit of a slap on the rest. Yeah. So you're taking to the station. Yeah. So Ray came home and small police turned up because they were making a hoo-haar about leaving the children and stuff. Even though I showed them his DBS check and the permission he's got to, the children love Ray, more than me.

And... Yeah, so he stayed with the children. They took me off to the police station. I think by this point it was maybe about half three, something like that. And then I waited for a while, called the solicitor, had an interview with two members of CID. Obviously, prior to that, I'd explain myself to the solicitor. She said to me, I think you've just explained yourself really eloquently there.

And I think the best thing to do here is go into that interview and just tell them what you've told me because I think you've explained yourself really well so that's what I did. At no point did she stop the interview and kicked me under the table or give me any indication that what I was saying might further down the line incriminate me.

Because what you said in that interview, the political statements you made were then used against you and in quite a dishonest way. They would just twist it. Well, it just wasn't what I said. You know, we had this conversation. I had this conversation with the police about, you know, I'm well aware of the difference between illegal immigration and legal immigration.

I'm well aware as a country we need immigration. Where would we be without it? You know, I know that I go to the hospital now. And I said, I didn't want to be treated by an immigrant. I wouldn't get treated. You know, I work for doctors that are immigrants that are the nicest people I know. And I would happily be treated by them. So it's not a case of I don't want any immigrants.

and, you know, I'm not, I know there are some people that truly believe we don't need immigration and no immigration should. I'm not one of those. So I explained myself to them and I said, you know, it's simply that I just don't believe that these people in these hotels should be allowed to roam our streets when they haven't been checked. We have no idea who they are and for what purpose. And whilst I appreciate most of them are really probably decent people and just here for a better life, if there's one person in those hotels that could harm our children, that is one too many. And that was then used in, I believe, the statement by the CPS to suggest that you had expressed anti-immigration and even racist views in the past. That I didn't like immigrants. I think their words were, Mrs. Connolly said she didn't like immigrants and they were a danger to our children.

That isn't what I said. It was completely twisted. And I will eventually at some point release that interview so that everyone can see for themselves that what the police said and what the CPS said are two very different things to what I said in my interview and when did you learn that you weren't coming home um the same so they released me on that Tuesday and it says in the paperwork that there was not enough evidence to charge me and they bailed me with conditions not to post on social media which I kept to I did not break those bail of conditions at all so I just didn't post on social media deactivated my Twitter account and then

you know just tried to carry on with life as it was working and stuff but I was clearly you know very very anxious and not that well and it got to Friday morning and I'd got up got showered and I was just putting the bins out and down comes a police car at seven something in the morning and I just knew I thought they're coming for me and I thought maybe they were going to ask me to come in on a voluntary basis to add or whatever you because they'd obviously already arrested me and released me. No, arrested again. Da-da-da-da-da.

Got to the police station very early, about eight in the mornings, eight or something like that. And I said, can you get the same solicitor back? Because she knows the story, the back story. She came. I spoke to her. She said, these are different things now. They've got more stuff.

I said, what's stuff? She's, well, they won't tell me. They were playing silly beggars and they were like not passing her the tweet. So she at this point wasn't. aware what they'd got and stuff like that and they were trying to do this whole they'd got this paperwork and that she couldn't see I couldn't see and they were trying to do this whole one at a time thing and she was like you know if you continue to do this I am going to stop the interview at every piece of paper make you leave the room and discuss this if my client you know

so they finally relented gave her all the tweets that they've and these are your historic these are my historic tweets that they were you know saying that they were racist or derogatory tweets but they weren't i mean there was a really simple explanation to all of them but funnily enough they hadn't got the original tweets they'd just got my replies and there was a lot cut out and it says in the paperwork it says tweet not available and then it was say my reply so i suppose on paper it could look quite bad so for example there was one about a somalium it stemmed back from a video that actually tommy robbins it was on it was originally on one of tommy robinson's pages my friend had tagged me in it and said this is near you Lucy please be careful it was a

really innocent post and I survived like oh yeah I know all about that I think he's been arrested I think he was a Somalian guy with a sick face because obviously for obvious reasons there was a guy masturbating over children in a park near me I mean that would you not agree that's pretty sick you know like so then I think somebody had put something along so if you can't say he's Somalian that's racist so I'd report applied. You can if he's Somalian. I really, to this day, don't understand what the issue of that is. You know, some racist, like I would describe me as white British, like I would describe him. People have a certain look about them, don't they? And if we're describing

somebody, Somalians have that very distinctive look. So I said, it's Somalian, I guess, with a sick face. And then somebody had accused me of being racist because I'd pointed out that he looked Somalian. And then I put, you know, you can. can say he's Somalian if he's Somalian. If you were giving a description, if the police were asking you of a description of somebody and you thought they were Somalian, you would say, I think they were Somalian. That, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Like you'd say, I'd think they were Asian.

I think they were white British or whatever you were describing. So what was clear is that there was an attempt being made to try and paint you as a prolific poster. Absolutely. This is not a one-off. Yeah. You know, we've got a bad and... Yeah, absolutely. And there was another post where a very good friend of mine

that I speak to on Twitter all the time had called me a derogatory name as he does, I laugh, and I'd call him another word for a do-as-you-like-you. Long story short, we'd all been on a group call on a Saturday night, had too much whisper an angel. He was on holiday in his caravan. He wouldn't... And then he couldn't get on the call, da-da-da-da-da.

He'd put, I just wanted to get on the call and call Lucy a Brumme see you next Tuesday to which I replied well you can't you you you know it was friends it was banter friends having banter that's all it was but they were like you know and then the solicitor's going

well surely if you if you've got take an issue with her saying that to him you're taking issue with him saying that to her oh we can't find him and obviously I wasn't going to help them help them find him and yeah so that was all that was it was literally a really innocent post between two friends and like I said they hadn't seen what he'd I mean if I showed you the card he sent me while I was in prison you don't know you'd understand you had a unique humour yeah we have that thing going and after that interview is that when you were told that you were going to be remanded in custody yes so this was very early on in the day they interviewed me we did a no comment interview but with this written statement for that one so she went through

each tweet with me there and said like what is this what is its meaning so she wrote some of it she just completely left out because she said it's so silly that I'm not even dignifying it with a response and you know I was in my interview going do you know Tommy Robinson and she went doesn't everybody know Tommy Robinson you know it was that I could see where this was going so they asked you in your interview in my second interview do I know Tommy Robinson but did they mean did you know him personally yeah that that's what they were implying and that's what they were asking me. And I didn't answer that. My solicitor answered in my behalf and went, oh, I think everybody knows Tommy Robinson. There's

no relevance. Move on, you know. Are you a racist? Do you know Tommy Robb? That was the sort of things they were asking me and I asked just no comment, no comment, no comment. Because that's what I've been advised to do. She did a written statement explaining where she thought it needed explaining what each tweet meant. And then obviously I had to go back in the cells. And I I was going, you can let me out, you can let me out. At this point, I did not think for one second they were going to remind me. I just saw those tweets and I thought, what a load of crap. Are you serious?

Are you seriously asking me if I'm a racist because I've pointed out somebody, describe somebody, or I've made a joke to my friend. Come on, get real. That was my thoughts at the time. So no idea you're not going to be going home. So then the day went on and they kept me there and they kept me there and they kept me there. and I was thinking, what on earth is going on? They've had their interview.

She'd also put in a complaint, the solicitor, because she was like, why did you re-arrest her? Why did you not bring her in for a voluntary interview? You've already arrested her. She's already giving you a statement. Why are you bringing her back in on a re-arrest? So she put that in. Their excuse was, this is a different charge.

It wasn't. It never was. It was all part of the same thing. So she went off. Which was inciting racial hatred. Yeah. So, well, it's publishing written material that could have. incited racial hate.

Not that it did, could have incited racial hatred. Because we know that it didn't. And so when are you told? Not quite late that evening. By this point, I was getting really restless and I was like buzzing on the buzzer all the time going, please can you, because nobody talks to you in that place. They dump you in there, you know, my anxiety was through the roof. The only people that were seeing me was the nurse and doctor, you know, feeding me tablets

to bring my, you know, crazy blood pressure down and, and they don't update you. They don't tell you what's going on. you just buzzed we're busy we're waiting for an answer from the CPS we're waiting for an answer from CPS that's all they kept saying and then I think they came about it was late in the day eight nine o'clock at night and said follow me you know and they take you to the desk don't they and they charge you and they read out the charge and I just I didn't say anything it says no comp because I was just like no one you just cannot believe what's happening I was like this cannot be happening you know and then he went and we're reminding you we're not giving

you bail you'll stay here and appear at court in the morning I was like, what? And then I just remember having a phone call and crying to Ray, saying, Ray, they're not letting me go home. And he was like, what? And I told him what was happening. And then he came, did he come that evening? I'm not sure he did, or we came the following day with some clothes and stuff.

And then obviously they reminded me, I appeared by video link at Magistrates Court that morning, 10 o'clock that morning. They, again, reminded me, wouldn't, the sister asked for bail, they wouldn't give me bail, said this. is so serious that it's going to Crown Court we're not dealing with it. So that tells you straight away that they always intended to give me a sentence more than two years because a magistrate's

court can only give a sentence up to two years crowns from two years. So it was an either or case as well. It was a case that could have been heard at Magistrate's Court or could have been heard at Crown Court. They call it an either or case. So at this point

is it starting to dawn on you that you were being made an example of. Yeah. And then I remember saying to Ray, you need to get me a solicitor to this hearing. I can't go to the court hearing without a solicitor. And it was just another guy from the duty company. Because obviously this is a Friday night I've been reminded.

It's now Saturday morning. Where on earth do you look up good lawyers, the criminal lawyers, embarrasses in this situation? We just had to go with what we'd got. And I said to Ray, you need to. And I'd said to this guy, how much is this going to cost us? And I'd rang me, Ray, said it's going to cost this. He said, don't worry about it. Just do it.

I'll sort it. And you're not being helped at this point by the free speech union. No, no, no. They came much later down the line. And then I met, well, I spoke with a solicitor over the phone. And it was just a, well, obviously you're going to have to go guilty. And I was like, what? But I'm not a racist.

But I haven't done what they've said that I've done. And, well, you know, we had Tyler Kay, another guy, and he's just been reminded for the same thing. He retreated it. At this point, I haven't. I knew nothing about Tyler. I would like it knowing that I do not know him. I've never had any interaction with him.

And at this point, I knew nothing about him. And he's like, well, yes, we've just had another, you know, in that week that it all been going on with me. He'd been arrested, charged, remanded, was due in court for sentencing the following week. And that was for posting the same words as you. He did, but he also added his own things. He added things like, you know, fuck the police and go out. He was actively encouraging the riots. So by this point, the riots had kicked off.

And also, he was actively encouraging people to go out and riot. That I did no such thing. You know, as we've already established, my tweet was well before the riots started. And as soon as the riots started, I was like, in no way, shape or form. Encouraging anybody to life. But you're solicitors thinking, well, Tyler's gone down for a very lengthy sentence. The most sensible thing here is to plead guilty. And he said to me, and because I,

said, well, can't I just say, I wrote the tweet, because obviously I've already admitted to writing through it. I can't say I didn't. I'm sorry. I took it down. I wrote the tweet, but it was not my intention to do what you're saying. He said, well, no, because then that becomes a Newton hearing, and you'll probably lose, and then you'll lose you 33% credit. And you're looking at five to seven years. Can you imagine being told on a Saturday morning you're going to prison for five to seven years? Because what you don't, for somebody like me, he's never been part of the criminal system and never been to prison, I don't understand

how sentencing works. If you're telling me I'm going to prison for five to seven years, that means I'm going to prison for five to seven years. I didn't know that you only do X amount of your sentence and tag and all of these things because I don't move in those circles. So it was just a given and he said, I'm going to ask for bail but obviously that was denied. So

then I went, that, they moved it, said you will appear in Crown Court on Monday morning. And then I thought, right, now what then? And I thought they might just leave me in the police sales, actually. And then the sergeant came along, I said, I'm going to try and get you some transport to prison. And I was like, prison, you know, I want to stay here, I want to stay here.

Thinking it's near home, I've got to go to court on Monday anyway, I'll just stay here. Knowing what I know now, that is definitely best to get sent to an actual, you know, proper remand prison where they're set up for, you know, holding people longer term. So I got shipped there this Saturday. afternoon appeared back in court Monday morning. But that was a sham. I knew I was doing court. They'd told me I was doing court at 10 o'clock. At 11 o'clock, no, 1 o'clock in the afternoon,

I think I got there. At 12 o'clock I was still at the prison. They'd messed all the transport up. And then they were panicking going, the crown's calling for you, you've got to get you. And they're trying to get my taxi. Then they finally got me transport. So that added to my stress. You know, I'd been hauled in, you know, reminded instantly, not really been able to get any legal advice, taken straight to court, late for court, because I was, I've known for no for, I'm thinking this is going to get me into more, into even more trouble, because I'm now three hours late for court, you know, which was out of my hands. And then that was the first time that I met my solicitor, Liam. He'd previously been speaking with Ray, and Ray had given him a background

on me and he said I can't really remember what at what this point it was for it wasn't it wasn't to put a plea no it I think it was to put a plea in but it was advised for no plea in because they wanted the psychiatric reports they wanted to prove mitigation and things like that so he asked for an adjournment

which he was granted so I didn't put a plea until later on but you were always categorical because of this advice that you were going to plead guilty. Yeah, because that's what I was told as the best, you know, it became quite obvious and was made quite, you know, clear to me that I was going to prison for this. There was no alternative. I think the whole legal profession across the board were like, what on earth is going on with these cases? They were seeing people get like really high sentences where they ordinarily wouldn't.

do. They were seeing people rush through the system overnight, which is unheard of, given the backlog of the court case. It's unfair. It's not fair. Why should I get, you know, rushed through the system when there were women sitting in prison, we've been waiting for two years the trial that are going not guilty? Well, I think we know why. And actually, I want to show you Kier Stammer, because obviously as director of public prosecutions, he had actually given advice that said if someone who had never been in trouble with the law impertently posted something in the heat of the moment on social media and then deleted it it should be dealt with very swiftly certainly not with a charge or with a prison

stay but because he was so determined to crack down on this quote unquote far right violence across the country I believe he did try and influence the judiciary, but I don't know if you've seen this, so I just want to show you what he said at the time. Thank you. I'm utterly condemn the far-right thuggery we've seen this weekend. Be in no doubt, those that have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law. The police will be making arrests, individuals will be held on remand, charges will follow, and convictions. will follow. I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly

or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves. Convictions will follow. It answers the question, doesn't it really? Instead of saying, you know, we know you're upset, we know you're angry, but this is not the way and it won't be tolerated. You're all far-right activists and racist and thugs. And, you know, I don't care for you. upset that those three children have died. I don't care if you're scared for your own children. This is what we're going to do. And, you know, he said it himself, we will remind you because that isn't standard practice. To remind people like me that isn't a flight risk, it's never, you know, offended before and was very unlikely to offend again. It wouldn't be standard practice. And

ordinarily, you wouldn't get the CPS's instruction to remind somebody. They would say no. Even if the police were asking, they would say no, there were not enough grounds. to remand this person. Do you feel like you were Starman's political prisoner? Yes, absolutely. And I think politics didn't need to come into it. There was nothing to do with politics. It was, I'd made an angry tweet that I shouldn't have said.

Why is that anything to do with being married to a Tory councillor? Or why is that anything to do? It's 2025. the husbands don't keep their wives in line and, you know, tell them what to do. And we definitely don't have a relationship like that. He does his thing. I do mine. He thinks his way.

We definitely don't align on our beliefs and political views all the time. But you know what? That's okay. But Starman needed to prove that people like you, ordinary people who were just, in his words, whipping stuff up on like you were going to go to jail. and so you make this decision to plead guilty and Lucy lots of people have said that was a huge mistake in hindsight it was and had I have

they have to remember that I didn't get remanded I'd asked sorry I didn't get bail I'd been remanded they made it quite clear they were not going to give me bail at any point so you're in jail so I'm in jail at this point being told that I'm looking at five years not really understanding how the system works crying thinking my daughter's going to be this age my dog's going to be dead by the time i get home i'm going to be this age i'm going to prison for this time and you have a solicitor advising me to go guilty to get my credit to get time off discussions we'd had i thought i'd have been looking at a lot

lower sentence than what i did get he also told me i'd be eligible for tag i wasn't um and the the conversation we had is you'd probably be home by christmas go guilty now you'll be home by Christmas. So in my mind, it got to the point where all I cared about was what is the quickest way home to my daughter and my family. But instead, in that sentencing by the recorder of Birmingham, it is quite clear that he is making a political point. Absolutely. You're an example. He talks about diversity in his summing up and actually, ends up giving you, despite the fact that you've pleaded guilty, a two and a half year sentence. Yeah, and he said in the hearing, well, you know, had you have gone to trial and been found guilty,

you would have got four years something. So that's where I'm going to start from. And then I'm going to take your discount off. So actually, I didn't end up gaining anything by going guilty because all he did was add that 25% on before he took it off. Do you regret pleading guilty? Yes. Well, yes and no. Again, because I honestly believe, had I've gone not guilty, there's a strong possibility I would still be sitting in jail now waiting for a trial.

Once they've reminded you, they're in no rush to put you through the system. Why would they? They wanted to rush you through the system, didn't they? Because, I mean, all of these hearings were being televised and they wanted to show to other people, don't post. Don't post because you could be like Lucy Connolly. It was all by design. all by design, you know, they intentionally reminded people because it's very difficult then, isn't it, to get the best legal advice?

And I know Ray was seeking alternative legal advice on the outside and he was saying to me, please don't go guilty. If I could get you to sit around the table of these lawyers, you'd understand why. But that's the problem, isn't it? I couldn't go around and sit at the table of these lawyers. And they couldn't say, like, this is why it's not incitement. This is why you shouldn't go guilty. This is why is this.

Stand strong. We'll get you out. and but I don't know whether they would have done I think my card was marked I truly truly believe it doesn't matter who I had representing me what I pled they were going to have to You were Stama's pin-up girl

and he had made it clear that he expected the judiciary I don't call it a justice system by the way I call it a judiciary he had made it clear that you needed a lengthy sentence so at that point your world collapses

because you know that you are going to spend an extended period in prison. And at HMP, Peterborough, guards recounted the fact that you were the most terrified inmate they had ever seen. Talk me through that experience because you're being housed in this jail with murderers. Yeah, paedophiles, murderers, drug dealers, you name it, they were there. And Vermont jails tend to have a good mix of it. everybody because obviously they're on remand waiting to go to trial so there's there there's no rhyme or reason to who might be there they don't categorize anybody or anything like that and they don't tend to in women's prisons anyway um they're not categorized like men's prisons because they're not

there's not as many of them it's not so many women in prison so they're not categorized but yeah so i went in not got off the prison bus and i was just beside myself and the so yeah so that was on the desk was like no no don't cry it's honestly not that bad i promise please don't cry like i've so upset he said please don't cry like that and then i was like taken through to another room where they search you and check you all in and stuff and the officer there was like she was lovely and she was like what did you do you know very understanding and i told her and she was just a bit like i you know didn't i don't think she had much to say she just went oh you won't be the first person and you won't be the last type of thing and then she said to me like later on um i've never

seen anybody look as terrified as you did when you came into jail and And she was actually the one that managed to get me on the wing that I eventually went on because she said, I just thought it was really well suited to you because it was, I knew the women on there and I knew it was nice and quiet and there were a good bunch of women on there. So I thought that, you know, it's a good, it's a nice wing, you'll be, you'll do okay on there. And she was right, it was a nice wing and I did do okay on there. And I met a great bunch of women. That was before I got moved to Drake Hall. So she, you know, she, and then.

So, so I heard that you were very nervous in the early days and you didn't want to leave your cell. begin with. No, it's very daunting to... But then these women almost embraced you and you realised that they were not going to pose a threat to you because to begin with, I think, I mean, there have been other people who I've spoken to over this period who did end up being targeted in jail because there was a view that these people were racist. I mean, it wasn't quite like that at Drake Hall and I did have some issues there, but

Peter was certainly, I never had any issues as well. any of the women, they all, you know, and if there was a bit of, but aren't you a racist, and then I explained myself, they were like, oh, what a load of nonsense, you know, why are you even here? No, no violence against you. No, never, not a Peterborough, never, never got threatened, never got, you know, it's a women's jail, there's always going to be arguments, it's always going to be cattyness, you've got hundreds of women living under the same roof, you know, you can quite imagine.

Did you have cellmates? No, I was always on my own, high risk. So, um, you don't have. have to share a cell if you're deemed as high risk. And in these early days, Lucy, the mainstream media were just at this point running with a narrative that you were a racist. Absolutely. And I will never forgive the mainstream media and those that went out of their pitchforks

and just printed that, you know, I was in there for misinformation, so to speak, and that's exactly what they're doing, you know, writing this, writing that. The facts were wrong. As far as they were concerned, I was a racist. A racist, far-right thug. That, you know, that fitted in with the government's narrative, and that's what I was, and that's what they rolled with. And Sly News even attacked Ray, your husband, for defending you

and saying that you weren't a racist. Yeah. I mean, they were terrible. They really caught him off guard as well. And I remember that the first time I was in court, they were chasing him down the street. Again, you're talking about a guy that's, this is all new to him as well. He's never been in trouble with the police. He's never been to court, and he's watching his wife go through all this.

They're chasing him down. the street, you know, putting pressure on him to make a statement and he's like, of course he was going to support me. We've been married 18 years next month. I'm the mother of his children. He knows I'm not a racist. He knows I'm a good person. He knows I'm not any of the things they're trying to betray me to be. Would you not stick up for your partner? Of course you would. Of course you would. You have to. But you're in jail presumably thinking my life is over. I mean, who's going to hire me again, people are going to believe that I'm a racist thug psychologically. Everything, isn't it? How could you cope? I don't. I don't know is the answer. I just did.

I just amazing support from family and friends. You know, they really were great. Ray's been absolutely amazing all the way through. Really, you know, fought my corner as well as keep, you know, the house afloat, our daughter afloat and everything all on his own. Yeah. So at the people you know support of other people family friends and you and ray right from the start your biggest concern has always been ed being separated from her at such a formative stage of her life and knowing that she's having to deal with this she's having to face this at school it feels particularly cruel and unusual you must have felt i imagine pretty helpless oh yeah and it's and also i was in a situation where i was always fortunate to be able to stay home with ed and

bring her up i didn't you know a lot of children used to go into child care after school clubs this is that the other she wasn't it was always mommy took her to school mommy picked her up from school mommy where she got older mummy was i her after school you know to listen to her rant about the teachers and tell her what you know a shit day or whatever or a good day or now that now i wasn't there so it was a massive change to her it wasn't just mummy's in prison it was like but mummy's always been there and she has an amazing relationship way they have a lovely relationship, but it's a different relationship to what she and I have and what he has. She lost her mom.

Yeah, he's the fun one, the one that takes her to golf and all of those things. And I'm the one that she wants when she's poorly. I'm the one that takes to the doctors. I'm the one that fights with the school on their behalf, you know, all of those things. I'm the one that she comes home to every day and, you know, tells about her day because I'm the first person she sees. I'm the one that she tells me about when her friends are annoying, you know, and all of those kind of things, you know, like.

And because of a 51 word tweet, that was delivered. deleted within hours, all of a sudden you're not there. In prison, were you aware that Keir Stama had been asked in the Oval Office by J.D. Vance if the UK had free speech? It was quite a testy exchange. I don't know at what point it became apparent. I don't think it was too later on. And I remember I was at Drake Hall at this point, so it was probably February, March, at least.

So it was a good while into my sentence And I remember it going along the bottom of the screen On Good Morning Britain The American Government are investigating the case of Lucy Connolly And everyone's like Trump's looking at you know Trump's mentioned your name Trump's mentioned your name

And I knew he had And everyone was like Does that not really weird to you? Is that not really surreal to you? I said not really I said you know he's I kind of would expect that of him to be honest He's not I know that he wouldn't take kindly

To what's going on in the UK right now And I know that he's a big free speech advocate and quite frankly probably looking at our country thinking like a lot of people like a lot of letters I received in jail saying you know this country's an embarrassment with the countries right now things that are going on the way we're not allowed to the way we're being silenced so given kirstama has now said twice to jadey vance and donald trump that the UK does have free speech i know that tomorrow you are intending to meet with a representative of the American administration, but before that, what would your message be to the president

and the vice president? Does the UK have free speech? I don't think so, no. And that's, you know, becoming increasingly apparent, isn't it? Well, how many people are still in prison? A similar thing that I, and that's what I said earlier, we need to remember that there were still other people in prison for a similar thing. There are other political prisoners. Other political prisoners. Wayne-O-Rourke. So I would like Kea Stama and CPS and any of these people that had a hand in this to tell me exactly what are they achieving by putting the likes of me in prison and what are they gaining. What are they gaining?

Apart from an absolute minimum of £55,000 a year bill to the taxpayer, what's being gained? And what have you been told about this meeting with the Trump administration tomorrow? Not much, just that they're very interested in the way things are going in the UK. and they're obviously big advocates for free speech and their lawyers are keen to speak with me. You request a move, a prison move, because you felt like the governor at Peterborough was in some way against you

and that there were definitely conversations going on. I mean, we know for a fact because someone quite senior at the prison told Ray your husband that there was a phone conversation with the Home Secretary, for example. So we know for a fact that there, was some degree of government interference in your case. Certainly Richard Herman, the Attorney General, had taken a close interest. So you request to make a move, and you are granted that move to Drake Hall.

And a really shocking incident occurs. Can you talk me through that? Because this actually ended up with Richard Tice, the Reform UK Deputy Leader, coming to visit you in prison and even raise the fact that you were mistrust. treated and man-handled in Parliament. So what exactly happened that day? When I went back to Peterborough.

Yeah, so I put in a request to go back to Peterborough because Drake wasn't for me. It was a completely different setup and a different atmosphere. And much further away from your home as well. And much, much further away. It was taken rainy, you did a four, five hour round trips. I mean, it just felt so far away from home. So I just asked them if I could move back to Peterborough.

that request was accepted and I moved back to Peterborough and then obviously when everybody goes into most any jails they go on an induction wing so everyone goes and then they're allocated a wing and they are generally supposed to look at the person

and go what are they in for what are they like would they suit you know they wouldn't want to be put in an really violent aggressive person on the wing with pregnant women for example those kind of things you know and obviously I was an enhanced prisoner. I've been an enhanced prisoner since I've been in prison eight weeks and I'd

never lost that enhancement because I told the line. I was polite, respectful. But you had had every opportunity to come home or work outside the prison. All of that was rejected. By both prisons. So that was the main reason I moved from Peterborough because I was so fed up of fighting. I say fighting with the governor but he didn't ever respond to me. He just only ever sent notes and letters and messages through other people, got his other people to do his dirty work. And I was a question to see him. I'm saying, you need to sit down and you need to tell me

why you're blocking my rottles, why you're refusing HDC but letting other people out that are not in anything like the circumstances that I'm in and they've killed people. But you're granting them tag, but you're saying that my circumstances aren't an exception to enough. You're telling me I can't go and see my child when the MOJ guidelines say that I hit every criteria

to go on a childcare rottel and see my child. But at this point, your story had become a real focus of national and international media attention. And it was clear that the prison was pretty terrified by that. Yeah, and that was the reasons given. You're not going on rottles because the press interest is too high and behind the scenes. That was basically said about, I think it's a bit like herd mentality,

isn't it? At this point, I know I was a far-right extremist. racist thug all of these things you know and you know they didn't want to be seen to be letting her out of jail you know public that's what they said to me public perception it's about public perception we're always getting in trouble for

you know being accused of letting prisoners out early so we're not going to do it in this case because you were a political prisoner you had to be punished and everyone had to be warned do not write a terrible tweet that criticises this government because you two could end up in jail so in this transfer

process someone has died at the prison and you were told that you are going to have to go into their cell. Not their cell, but on the same wing. Now, where excrement was covering the walls.

I don't know what it was. They assured me it was coffee, but I'm not so sure. I don't know. I scrub the walls of bleach and the lives of the life. But yeah, I was putting a cell that I wouldn't say

was fit to be putting somebody in. It was filthy. It had stuff up all the walls. It was, I don't think it. But you were injured in this transfer process? Quite badly.

What happened? So they bent me up, as we say in prison. They went, they have a way of, you know, and rightly so, you know, if somebody's attacking them, they needed a way to be able to bring them under control, don't they? But obviously I wasn't attacking them.

I was sitting on the floor crying. Because you didn't want to go into this cell. Because I didn't want to go to this wing. Where someone had just died of a spice overdose? No, there wasn't, it wasn't. that no that's not true um well i don't think they know why yet um well no one knows it was a sudden death um but that was the second person to die upstairs in that prison while i'd been there and i find that quite terrifying actually you know two people have died while i've been in prison

for whatever reasons they were could have been drugs involved might not i don't know so you were for it not to go to the swing, you're on the floor sobbing, and at that point, what happens? They kind of, a load of officers surrounded me and then kind of grabbed my right arm. She pulled that back, and then the other officer grabbed me with them, they pulled me up, handcuffed me, pushing my arms behind my back, and the more I screen, the more they were pushing them. And then another guy, like, bent me over, so to speak, and then they kind of shoved me to the doorway where the stairs were, you know, going, you're going to walk, you're going to walk. And I was like, I didn't say I wasn't going to, you know, like, I was screaming and I was upset at this point.

And, um. In pain? Oh, gosh, yeah. Like, the girls that witnessed it on the other wing and that were like, they said it was just awful to listen to. They were like, you could tell that they were like, you're, you know, excruciating pain. And the more you scream, the more, the harder they, you know, hurt you. Do you think they were targeting you because of your notoriety at that point? I don't know. I find this whole situation quite bizarre because I didn't know any of those offers personally

the officers that did that to me I'd never had any contact with them when I was there previously I always got on with most of the officers I think they're doing a really good job in really difficult circumstances and I know that if you said to one of those officers that knew me well and had regularly been on the same wing

and you'd have gone to them and said go and Ben Lucy up they'd have gone no absolutely not why just talk to her not doing that and i know that they wouldn't have been prepared to do that but these guys that did this were not known to me and i to them because they were upstairs officers you see so and i'd always been downstairs so we didn't we do it's kind of two separate things what happened when richard tice the reform UK deputy leader came to visit you so he yeah he just came in and he wanted to know what happened and what had gone on and obviously at this point I had lots of bruising on me

which he witnessed and I explained to him what had happened and you know he was also of the opinion of you know have they done this on purpose are they trying to target you are they trying to get some kind of reaction to you because don't forget don't figure I'm a thug I'm a far right terrorist yet I've got probably one of the cleanest prison records you've ever seen you know so doesn't really fit their narrative does it and a lot of people now Lucy are suggesting that there could be a legal case against the police is that something that you are considering it's certainly something I'm going to look into I do believe that they you know issued false information I do think that they crossed the line

and they didn't do things that they should and I will be taking that up with them. How far I take that, I don't know at this point. But it is definitely something I'll be taken up with them. So potentially legal action? And what would that be for? Is it the fact that they lied in terms of what they put out with what you'd said in your police interview? Yeah. So they completely changed what I'd said in my interview. And all of this, we found racist tweets before and after no they didn't as i've explained earlier on what these tweets were there's there was no racism there um and it was just almost like trying to justify their actions you know and she said this and she said that and i was thinking i didn't say that that's not what i said

at all so even had i have gone not guilty and gone to trial they seriously prejudiced my case from the stuff that they'd already said you know by this point the media had made its mind a lot of people had made their mind up. They only had one side of the story. You know, how successful would I have been if I'd have gone to, I know that Ricky Jones got acquitted. Good for him. You know, I'm actually glad he did.

I'm glad the system worked for him. We shouldn't be, you know, putting people in jail for these kind of things. But this was a lot later on, don't forget. I was very much earlier on, you know, in the year and the start of all of this. And the mood of the nation has changed. But at the time, you were absolutely the pin-up girl for racism for disorder.

How amazing that you are now the pin-up girl for the lack of free speech in the UK. But you think that actually potentially some of these authorities need to take responsibility because it was very obvious that they were trying to set a particular narrative about it. Absolutely. There's no question about that. whether you agree or disagree with whether I should or shouldn't have gone to prison, you can't possibly support a justice system that has one rule for one and another for another and where the government are interfering. It's quite clear now that they did.

I mean, he as good as said as that in the video you just showed me, you know, I will be reminding people. And, you know, as people have said, they unlawfully remanded you. And they did. They had no grounds to remind me. Do you think we have a two-tier justice system? Yes, I do. And do you think white British people are more.

at risk than non-white? I don't even think it's about race. I think it's about politics. Yeah, politics and your political beliefs. If you think like the left, you're all good. If you don't, you're bad. Because the thing about Ricky Jones is that, I mean, I actually quite agree with you in terms of I don't think

Ricky Jones should have been in prison. However, a lot of people, Lucy, were saying, well, if he escaped jail, you should have two. because he quite clearly directly incited violence right down to suggesting that his political opponents had their throat card. And what he did was stupid and silly. But did he really want that to happen? Of course he didn't.

Of course he didn't. But neither did you. No, of course I didn't. But the system should have worked for us both, shouldn't it? We should have both had the same opportunities to make the same plea and we didn't. That's not his fault, is it? It's not really his fault that he was granted bail. and he had the opportunity to seek good legal advice and make that decision.

I didn't, I wasn't in that position. This is what people need to remember. We were in two, and people say, well, she pleaded guilty. He didn't. I didn't really have a lot of choice. I didn't have the option to go not guilty. Not if I didn't want to still be sitting there now on remand. That's for sure.

Lucy, you can imagine that the hard left in this country are desperately trying to change the narrative about you. Now, one of the things that's so brilliant today is that you have your voice back. I think the people will be able to hear directly from you, and it is incredibly clear that you are an articulate, intelligent woman, certainly not a far-right thug and certainly not racist. But I think it's really important that you are given the opportunity to respond to some of these people who are still, to this day, saying some of the most vile things about you. the first is this guy I describe him as the anti-Brexit virgin Femi Ola Wally

Oh Femi yeah And I mean personally I've been saying I think you need to sue this guy's ass Because I'm going to tell you what he said Lucy Personally I believe this crosses a line But I'll leave it to you

He has written about you Today the UK right wing Welcomes home a terrorist With open arms Tomorrow thou'll claim to care About national security to justify targeting black and brown people, Lucy Connolly was one of the instigators

of the most widespread terror crises in years, right-wing terrorism. Your response. Where does it say anything about black or brown people? In my tweet, where does it say anything about black or brown people on the boards of the mums and the grandmas outside hotels saying they want these people moved on?

I'd like someone to point that out to me because I'm yet to see that. people bring this race into everything it's not about race they could be from anywhere and any colour and it wouldn't make a difference the fact that people are worried is the fact that they are not vetted they are coming in and we do not know where they've come from what they may or may not have done in countries where they don't treat women and children like we do here that is a fact

and I'm not for one second suggesting that everybody coming in in a boat is a rapist and a murder and all of those things and most of them are are going to be decent people wanting a better quality of life. Well, but many are. But many are not. Many are. I mean, we are importing on a daily basis. Rapists, terrorists, murderers,

and the country's view on that has changed while you've been behind bars, and I do want to come to that. Why are they more important than my child? I don't understand. That's how I would put it. Why is somebody illegally coming in, knowing they're illegally coming into... And having that view doesn't make you a terrorist, does it?

means that I want my children and other people's children to grow up in a safe world. Will you consider legal action against Femiola Wally for describing you as a terrorist? Part of me thinks, I'm no interest in what that idea that I blocked about five years ago has said about me. We don't have used a don't align. He's, you know, he's a race beta, he's an attention seeker. He doesn't know me. He can say what he likes about me. I suppose I could.

I suppose I would have a case that, but you know what? I've just spent a year away from my family. the last thing I'm going to do is taking a notice of the plonker like him. What about the Daily Mirror, though? Because, I mean, this is a national newspaper that today, in a headline which has gone wide on social media, have said Lucy Connolly is no martyr. She's a racist. It's the truth that's being twisted. That was the Daily Mirror's headline.

Yeah, well, look, who's the editor of the Daily Mirror? I don't need to tell you anymore, do I? And then Narenda Kaur has criticised me, Lucy, for this interview. She has said, anyone who publicly supports and uses journalistic media to advocate burning women and children alive in their beds should be stripped of any entitlement to broadcast, hang your head in shame, Dan. Oh, she's lovely, isn't she? I mean, can we just be clear? You never advocated burning women and children are like a merely.

Where has she got that from? Again, she's twisted the narrative to suit her own agenda. It's, you know, it's Narinda, isn't it? She's the biggest race beta on social media has been for a long time. If she was a white person, fact, she would have gone to prison a long time ago, and I don't care what anybody says she would. She says some vile things. If you don't agree with her, she comes for you.

And, you know, and again, why do I care what she thinks? I do want you to be able to respond to this, though, because here's the front page of today's Daily Mail. Narinda has alleged that you set up these shots with the Daily Mail. She wrote, nice little set-up shot, thought this racist woman would want to be with her daughter entirely for her first day of release, not flouncing around with what looks like set-up patch shot.

disgraceful, stay indoors, have some shame and be with your daughter. So can you just clarify, because I think it's important given she's put that out there, you had no idea about these shots. I'm fuming about, would you want a picture in the paper of you looking like a hippo? You don't look like a hippo, but of course, you don't want those pictures. Exactly. They've tried to purposely make you look back. Yeah, and we thought we'd got away with the press knowing where I was,

and there hasn't been much of a flowy, thank goodness. However, it was fairly late in the day. It was in the evening. I wanted to take the dogs out. I've been in a fenced environment for the last 12 months. I just wanted to go for a nice evening walks with my dogs. And just to clarify, Edie is here. She is here today.

And I think it's also really important. We say, Lucy, you are not being paid for this. There's no financial motivation here whatsoever. You're not being paid for this interview. You are here to put your side of the story. I do not want to walk along the street and people say there's that racist. I don't want that for my daughter. I don't want, you know, her, I need to set the record straight.

If you can choose to believe me, you can not choose to believe me. But at the end of the day, the mainstream media have had their say for the last 12 months. So I think, you know, I should be entitled to defend myself. Absolutely. Now, there has been a debate about the fact that Kemi Baderna, the leader of the Conservative Party, has come out in support of you. She said, at last, you return home to your family. Dan Hodges, the Daily Mail columnist, replied to her writing,

Lucy Connolly admitted her guilt. Her sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal, which said we regret to have to say that we found the evidence of the applicant about these important matters incredible. The Conservative Party used to stand for the rule of law, not anymore. Now that prompted Julia Hartley Brewer to actually stick up for you. She posted Lucy Connolly pleaded guilty because she was told she would be denied bail and wouldn't get a high court date before January so was persuaded to plead guilty for a lighter sentence

and therefore less time behind bars than she'd spend on remand awaiting a trial. A mother of a young child with no previous convictions facing a non-violent offence should have been bailed. It was a political decision to deny that. But Narenda responded to Julia saying, oh dear Julia wrong again. In her appeal, the examination and cross-examination of her lawyer was able to show that she had been fully and properly advised. It massively backfired. She pleaded guilty because, quite frankly, a jury would have found her guilty and she had been sat in prison for several years. Who's right in this argument?

Julia Hartifura. And we all know that you're wrong. If you don't agree with Narinda, you're wrong. You're wrong. If you don't agree with Narinda, you're horrible. You're racist. So do you feel like you were properly advised? No, I don't.

I mean, again, I don't want to go too much into this. I don't want to slander anyone. No, I don't. I don't think I was. But in their defence, this was the unknown to them. And like I said earlier, they were just looking at the system going, what the hell is going on here? Like, people are, why are they remind us?

people for this why are they giving people sentences for stuff they wouldn't even normally get a slap on the wrist for they were as much annoyed and watching what was going on thinking what they didn't you know and and he made that quite clear um and i honestly don't think it matters who was representing me i was they were going to have me for this i was i was going as the judge told me before she knew anything about my story i would be serving a lengthy custodial sentence. That was before they had any reports, any pre-sentencing reports, any psychological reports, any character references, anything of that nature that the judge should and would ordinarily take into consideration as mitigating factors. She had nothing at that

point, but she'd already told me I was going to serve a lengthy custodial sentence. Nigel Farage has taken a very different approach to you. He posted yesterday, welcome to freedom, Lucy Connolly, you are now a symbol of Keir Stama's authoritarian, broken, two-tier Britain. Do you feel like that's what you are? I'd say, show me where he's wrong. Evidence to me where he's wrong, because I can't find any, and I would wholly agree with him. You know, we need a system that works. We need a system that's fair for everybody, and that's not what happens right now. Are you going to become Keer Stama's worst nightmare? Well, he'll have to wait and see, won't he?

I'm certainly not going to, well, we'll see. I mean, I'm not his biggest fan, put it that way. What about a return to X? Oh, we'll see. I just think, again, X is, I used to really, really enjoy X. It used to make me howl. You know, I'd be on there in two minutes, I'd be crime of laughter,

everybody's put, and I just don't think it's going to be the same place anymore. You know, people are scared about, I mean, It worked, didn't it? It did work because my friends are definitely thinking, shit, if, you know, Lucy can go to Dell. I can definitely go. I've said worse. I've said, you know, this, that and the other. And these people, they go after people. They have no boundaries. They will go for your families, as we've seen in my case. They will go for your children. They will go for your businesses if you have one. There are no boundaries that these people won't cross if you don't agree with their political beliefs. So how do we fight back? I mean, look, I guess But there must be some sense of positivity from you seeing what's changed inside. You were part of this.

You were part of this feeling. And indeed, Tommy Robinson has said that Lucy Connolly almost needed to happen because the British people needed to wake up about quite how evil this government is. And if you look at what's gone on and we've obviously been covering it on outspoken now for a number of weeks,

and I know you're just catching up now but you have seen i mean look at the people outside the bell hotel and epping come on they're not far right racist thugs lucy they're like you their mothers grandmas fathers families that just want their children to be okay and the future of their children to be okay and that does not make you racist or far right and what about the raise the colors operation to actually say this is maybe the greatest sign of peaceful resistance just flying the union jack and the st george's flag that's crazy isn't it? I mean that this has been good. That's been a long time coming this whole if you fly a flag, you're racist. Like, why? That is not the case in any other country. In Europe, America, everybody is proud of their country. Everybody is proud of their flag and where, and you should be proud of your heritage and where you come from. Why is it like, you know, become a, you know, a crime for us to fly our flag. You know, flying flags is not actually something I do unless it's the Jubilee or, you know, England are playing. That's the kind of purpose. We use flags for. I'm not somebody that would permanently have a flag outside my house. But then I

certainly wouldn't assume that somebody that does was a racist. I'd be like, well, that's up to them, isn't it? It's their choice. So you can see change? I really hope. I think that I think everybody that needs to take a look at me and think, do you think that I ever thought at 41 years age, having forever towed the line and worked hard, paid my taxes, that I would end up in prison? Never. Never in a million years. And I did. And what prison did teach me is everybody, anybody, is one mistake away from a prison sentence. So anybody that's jeering that I was in prison needs to think, what if that was me or my family? What if I said something that I didn't mean or somebody overheard? And how far is this going to go? Are they going to start going into our phones, into our emails? Are we going to be sitting in the pub one night, having a, having a joke? with our friends over a glass of wine and somebody over here something and you're arrested because somebody's deemed it as offensive?

Well, it feels like... It feels like that's all Stama has now. Slippery Stama, as I call him. Censorship. Yeah. That's it. Communist Britain. This is what communism is.

You know, back in the day, and this is the thing that I will never agree with the socialism and labour and all of these things is it shouldn't be a case of just because you can't have it, no one else can. You know, why can't we just wish everybody well? You know, life is not fair and I know that better than anybody, you know, and that's how life, of course we should try and help everybody, but, you know. I know you would never wish to have gone through what you've gone through, Lucy, but do you understand why some people say maybe it was necessary? Like maybe

your pain was for a higher purpose? I do, and I really hope it isn't wasted. I've seen things that I would never have witnessed had I've not gone through this in so many ways the justice system the political side of it the prisons we have got a seriously failing prison system and we don't need new prisons we absolutely do not

we need to fix the system we have and we need to invest money to ensure that people aren't ended up in prison in the first place and if I can be an advocate for that and I can make even a small change then it won't have been for nothing And, you know, I promised these girls and these ladies in prison that I will do my best to give them a voice. And that's what I intend to do.

Yeah, I don't think Lucy Connolly is going to be silenced again. No, I don't think so either. Whether Ray likes it or not. Lucy, on the show, each week we run my greatest Britain Union Jackass figure. And on a Friday, which it is, we reveal and unveil the worst. Britain in the world this week. So I want to take you through the four nominees, and you can choose who you would go for, and then I'll reveal the results. So this week, on Monday, it was Ricky Jones, my audience very, very angry about the fact that not only has he escaped prison, he's been

pretty outspoken, I guess, in terms of defending what he said. Obviously, lots of people seeing a hypocrisy between you and him. On Tuesday, Benjamin Butterworth was our union Jackass that's because he went on GV News and said that all of the people who were raising the colors and raising the flag were just sort of loser bozos who had nothing better to do and had no jobs. It was sort of a gross generalisation. On Wednesday, Rachel Reeves for her destruction of the British economy. Yeah, Rachel McCall. And on Thursday, Angela Rainer, that's because she's pretty much been invisible over the summer

but decided to make time for a meeting with the deputy leader of Pakistan. So who would you say, Lucy, who would be your choice for the worst Britain in the world this week? That's a really tough one, isn't it? Not really, no end up. Hands down, no, no. And she's not even nominated, but she usually is. Most weeks she is. Okay, let me take you through the results.

We had a tie in fourth position, Benjamin Butterworth and Angela Rae. The runner-up, they were on 12% to the vote, the runner-up with 27% of the vote, rate short from accounts, but the worst Britain in the world this week. Quite ironic given we're sitting here with Lucy Jones. Lucy Connolly, it's Ricky Jones. And look, Lucy, I think it's great that you can take a position of saying, even though this guy might be a political enemy, let's not stoop to their level. Never. I will never stoop to their level. I don't wish anybody, any harm in any walk of life

just because they think differently to me. And I will never be like them. Beautifully put, I hope you get some time now with Eden and with Ray. It's been such a pleasure to have you. And to be able to tell your story, which we've been desperate to do for the past, God, 381 days, you were locked up. It's a long time. It's a long time to be separated from your child. It is. Well, you can get back to her now, Lucy.

Thank you so much. And, of course, we're not done today. That was an incredible interview, but standing by is Lady Colin Campbell for the uncanceled after show. She's going to be unleashed on a whole load today. What's going on with this Daily Mail campaign against Prince William and Catherine?

in the Princess of Wales. We're going to get into that plus big news going to be revealed by Lady C about how Donald Trump feels about these shocking claims from Michael Wolfe that he was in some type of competition with Jeffrey Epstein about sleeping with Princess Diana. This is a very bizarre story but Lady C has the truth and I think it will very much please Donald Trump. So you can join us over on Substack www. www. outspoken. Live. Substack is such an important platform for me. It's not just where we host the Uncanceled After Show every day. It is a free speech platform. If you sign up and join our community, you're protecting me from big tech cancellation and also lawfare as well. So I would love you to be part of it. You can message me directly www. outspoken. Live.

Outspoken is also now available as a podcast too, so I would love you to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. We've got video on Spotify now. you get your podcasts, we're available on all platforms. The key thing is, and I do ask you this from the bottom of my heart, please rate and review and subscribe. We're an independent show. We're getting driven up the charts now and it's because you are subscribing and you're rating and you're reviewing and it means the world to me. Okay. Subscribe on YouTube or Rumble because we will be back live Monday, midday Eastern Time 9 a.m. Pacific 5pm here in the UK. So brilliant to speak to Lucy Connolly today. And as always, most importantly, I promise to keep fighting for you.