Lucy Connolly Exposes Truth Behind Her Tweet, Prison Life & Broken UK Justice System

I'm Mapper level three.

What does that mean?

That's what they put terrorists and rapists on.

Lucy Connolly has been released. Lucy, how did you end up in prison for a social media post?

Because they made it so political. CPS ignored the laws, the police ignored the laws.

So why do you think you were reminded?

Because that's what Keir Starmer told them all to do. You've said we're being invaded. Well, are we not?

Four years for a tweet.

Who is making this up?

What's prison like?

There are many people in that prison that should not be there. When it first happened, I just felt like public enemy number one. I went from being someone that nobody knew to somebody that everybody seemed to know.

If Keir Starmer was sitting here, what would you say?

Give your head a wobble. I'm not prepared to shut up. Believe it or not, we do have free speech in this country.

Oh, you think we do?

We're supposed to, aren't we?

Do you ultimately regret the tweet?

Well.

Lucy, how did you end up in prison for a social media post?

Well, I'm not 100% sure, to be honest. I think it was both politically motivated. When I first saw all the posts on Twitter and stuff, you know, after some. It was a whole week later, actually.

Was this after Southport?

Yeah. So I actually made that tweet on the day of Southport, within hours of it being announced that, you know, that that atrocity had happened. And I'd obviously deleted it the same evening once I'd calmed down and thought, you know, you can't write that. Take that down.

Right.

It was a whole week before it kind of reared its ugly head again, if that makes sense, because I didn't think anything more of it. I deleted it, taken it down, carried on with normal life. Carried on on Twitter as normal.

Yeah.

And then I don't really know what made it pop up again.

So, what, it reearthed itself?

Yeah. So, like a week later. So I think it was like the Monday after I'd. I'd seen this post saying, yes, but you're a racist, aren't you, Lucy? And you're a Tory councilor's wife and all of this. And I was like, oh, gosh, you know, like, where's this come from?

Right. So the week after you posted it, nothing had happened? The police had called them over.

Nothing at all. I deleted the tweet. I hadn't even. I hadn't even looked at any of the comments on it, you know, before I deleted it. I hadn't engaged.

Did it blow up a bit? Was it a lot of things?

I think so. Apparently, you know, apparently it had 300 and something views. But as you know, on Twitter, it doesn't have to actually be a view for you to scroll past it, does it? So I had a fairly big following. I had about 10,000 followers.

So you had 10,000 followers and it had how many views?

I think 300 and something. Thousand.

Right, okay.

Yeah, I'm sure they said.

So a week later, it pops back up.

Yeah. So. And I was like, what's all this about? You know, this is a week ago, I made this tweet. Nobody said anything at the time. I thought that was the end of it. I deleted it, you know, and on top of that, obviously, when I made that tweet, there had been no riots, there'd been no violence or anything like that. So I took the tweet down, didn't think anything of it. Then, a week, you know, and I just thought, what's all this about? Because I hadn't engaged at all. And then I'd also put out a tweet. As soon as they started kicking off and the vibe, I was just, you know, I was just. Oh, gosh, you know.

You mean the. The.

So I think it was Southport was the first one, wasn't it? And I just looked at. Actually my friend was there, and she'd sent me some videos, and I. We were just like, oh, my God.

You know, of what happened at South.

Throwing bins at the police and all. Bricks. And we were just like, oh, my God. And I remember tweeting, you know, please stop this. We don't want civil unrest on the streets. I get that everyone's really angry. I'm really angry, but this isn't the way, you know, we're not going to get the government to listen to us by, you know, going out and throwing bricks at coppers and all of this kind of thing. But obviously. And that tweet was used in court, but that was, you know, they didn't want to take any notice of that, so.

So use that as your defense.

Not as a defense, but my point was they, you know, accused me of inciting violence, but I didn't, you know, there had been no violence. There had been no riots. At the point that I made that tweet, I took the tweet down within hours of making it because I knew it wasn't the right thing to say.

What did they say? Inciting racial hate.

Inciting. I think the actual charge was Publishing written material that was likely to. Not even did. Likely to. Yeah, Stir up racial hatred. And then further down the line they added in. You know, that falls into category 1A as well, which is a really high charge, hence the high sentence that I incited violence. But actually inciting violence is not in the charge that I pled guilty to the actual charges. On the 20 something of July, you published written material on X that was likely to stir up racial hatred. There was no mention of violence in that charge. So when they read out, I mean, that's the whole nother story in itself. I went guilty for. Not because I thought I was guilty or that I was admitting to being.

Because you pled guilty, didn't you?

I did plead guilty.

And what was your guilty plea to.

That tweet on 29 August, was it.

Why did you plead guilty?

Because they'd remanded me. So they'd already made it quite clear before they knew any of my circumstances, before they'd looked at any mitigating circumstances, before they'd looked into any character references, all those kind of things that judges ordinarily take into consideration when they're handing out sentences.

Take it you've never been arrested before.

No, never. First time in the cells.

So they held you?

Yeah, so they held me, going back a bit. They originally arrested me on a Tuesday, interviewed me, I explained myself, they let me go, bailed me with conditions not to post on social media. I didn't, I didn't break those bail conditions. And in the, you know, even in the police documents it says, you know, there's not enough evidence to charge her here. And somehow that changed from the Tuesday to the Friday. So I, you know, left the police station that Tuesday evening with bowel conditions to, I think with a date in November to go back, to check back in. And, you know, that the police officer said to me on the desk, he said, oh, you know, they'll put that back. The courts are so backed up, don't expect to be actually, you know, called to answer bail in November. So, you know, I'd gone home thinking, you know, I'd spent, I spent my few hours in the cells. I'd got my telling off, you know, wasn't proud of myself. That was the end of it.

Yeah.

Oh, no. So that was the Tuesday evening, you know, Friday morning. I'd literally just got out of bed, had a shower, I was putting the bins out, Friday's bin day in our street. And then as I was putting the bins out, this police car comes down the street. And I thought, I just know. I just know they're coming for me. This is like before 8 in the morning. So that obviously they were, you know, you're arrested for. Da, da, da, da, da.

How many police came to that time? Okay, and what did. And they arrested you for what?

I don't actually know what they were arresting me for the second time.

But they took you away.

Same charge, I think a public order charge. So, yes, they took me there. And then. Yeah, and then, yeah, I was never released. So that Friday, they interviewed me again. So the same solicitor, the same duties. Lister came and she put in a complaint, actually, because she said, why. Why have you rearrested her? You should have. You know, it should have at the very most, been a voluntary interview, asked to come back, you know, to provide more information. You've already. You've already arrested her once. Oh, well, this is different charges. What do you mean, this is different charges? Anyway, the. The guy that had originally reported me to the police got the hump that I'd been bailed on the Tuesday, and then he. He's obviously been kind of stalking my Twitter for quite some time. And, you know, watching. My feeling is he's some kind of labor activist.

Right.

Probably quite local to me.

Okay.

That was after my husband, I think that's my personal thought. I will. I don't know that, but that's what I think. So he'd then gone back to the police and went, you know, well, actually, look at these tweets. And, you know, these are racist, and these are racist. And I was like, what? So I got. The solicitor came and she's like, oh, you know, Lucy, I think this is quite bad this time.

What were the new charges? How are they different?

Well, it wasn't. It wasn't. Right, but this is what. This is what I'll never really understand. So they said they rearrested me because it was new charges. And I remember the solicitor on the night when I spoke to her on the phone and said, they've charged me. And I. She said, read out what they've charged you with. And she went, oh, they've only charged you with one charge. She said. They told me that it was several charges because obviously they, you know, claimed that they'd got these extra racist, racist tweets. They weren't racist, by the way. They were like, nothing of the sort. And it was just, you know, conversations on Twitter of, like, you know, comments on Twitter and stuff. And one of them was a Tommy Robinson post, and it was at The, A couple of weeks earlier, there was a guy that was arrested in a local park in Northampton near me and he was masturbating over children in the park.

Oh my God.

Exactly. So he was, I think he was caught and charged. The police did get him, but it wasn't that far to me. And somebody had tagged me in and said, oh, Lucy, just look at this. I know this is near to you. Just, I've got a 13 year old daughter, you know, he was like, just, just out of concern, but just be careful. So I was like, oh my God. You know, I was talking to this guy that I knew about it and I'd put something along the lines of, yeah, he looks Somalian. I think there's a, there's a large Somalian community around there with a sick face, obviously, because I was just pointing out that the guy looks Somalian. And do you not think that a man masturbating over children in the park is pretty sick? So then somebody I think could put underneath, you can't say that it's racist. So I'd put, Show me where it's. Show me where I've been racist. It's just a description of a person and a sick face because of the act. What? The act, you know, I mean, if you don't think that's sick, I think there's something wrong with you. Something wrong with you. So then that person had ended up deleting their, their comments because I kind of out argued them, you know, as I said, you're being ridiculous. So that all you could kind of see is, is what I'd put that, the sick face. Show me where I've been racist. And some, you know, nothing, nothing particularly bad. There was another one where I called my friend a derogatory name, rhymes with do as you likey. He'd called me a brummy C word first. It's just how we, how we roll. He's a friend of mine. He's a friend of mine in real life. Long story short, we were on a drunken Friday night call, a load of us, you know, whispering, angel fueled. And he was in his holiday home, you know, on the coast. And he couldn't get on the call because he didn't have any WI fi. So he'd put on Twitter, oh, I just wanted to come on and call Lucy a brummy seaworld. To which I replied to him, well, you can't because caravans don't have WI fi, you know. So again, completely taken out of context, you know. And then, then the Police and the CPS are issuing these statements saying it wasn't a one off tweet. There were further racist tweets found. Well, no, there weren't. You know, me calling my friend, a very good friend of mine, a derogatory name after he'd called me one first. That's just banter between friends, you know, if he's not going to take offense, why are you taking offense? You know.

Yeah.

And pointing out that, you know, a guy masturbating over children in the park is Somalian with a sick face. Because I'm, I feel it's quite sick. Again, not racist, but you know, the police had got these, you know, and it's quite. I will release it at some point because it's quite funny to see. And the second interview, I was just laughing and they asked me while I was laughing because I just thought, this is crazy. You've got, you know, a bunch of tweets with only my answers to. Conveniently enough, it says original tweet not available. So you couldn't actually see. So you couldn't actually see that it.

Was, it was no context.

It was. Yeah, there was no context to it. So you couldn't actually see that it was a video of that happening. Yeah, it just had my comments, you know, and even the solicitor said at the time, you know what, you know, he's called her a derogatory name first. What about him? Well, we're trying, you know, and they were trying to get me to out him. That was never gonna happen. I wasn't gonna help them go after him as well. Yeah. And then that was it. They were like, well, you know, because it was happened to be on Tommy Robinson's page. This, this video, they were like, do you know Tommy Robinson? My sister was just like, I think everyone knows who Tommy Robinson is. What's your point? Move on. You know, we're not going here. Yeah, but again, they were just desperate to kind of drag me into this, you know, far right label, you know. Well, you know, you, you've put racist comments, you've called, you've said we're being invaded. Well, are we not? You know, how, again, how is that racist? That was another one of them. We're being invited by people in boats. I'd put that. Is that not something people say often? Is that not things we hear politicians on the TV saying? I think I watch that on GB News regularly. People saying that, you know, again, completely taken out of context. You know, if you were a hardcore lefty and just wanting to look for trouble, that you might take something out of that. But honestly, they were just absolute nonsense. And, you know, then they obviously made these statements that they'd found further racist tweets before and after the offending tweet.

Had they?

No, Absolutely.

So they lied.

They lied. And I've got tweets that my family, you know, got off my Twitter later on where they're like, a good example of one. There was one of Tommy Robinson's freedom rallies, not the last one, but one maybe a couple of years ago, and there was some thugs there and they'd got their children there and they were singing Allah, who the is Allah? And I was just disgusted. I just thought, firstly, I don't think you should be taking children to things like that. My opinion is children should be children kept out of politics. It's not something I would take my children to. Secondly, you're teaching those children hate, you know, like I. Everyone's entitled to their own beliefs, aren't they? And their own religion. I'm not religious. I'm quite a big atheist, actually. However, I respect, you know, other people's religions and I respect that they get a comfort from that, etc. Etc. I'd never teach my child to, you know, dislike somebody's religion or, you know, I'm dead against that. So I'd put, this is disgusting. You know, no child should be taught this kind of thing. No child's born racist. Or. There were so many other tweets on my Twitter from, you know, over the time that quite clearly showed that, you know, I'm not down with racism and. Or calling anyone's religion out or.

So I guess you must have presented all that in your defense.

Of course, absolutely. They had all of this. They had several tweets like that. They had had the tweet when I went for. When the solicitor went for the bail application for the second time, he wanted all of this because he's like, we've only got one shot at this, Lucy. I need all, you know, all my ducks in a row. They wanted to get all these tweets, you know, and they had the tweet that I tweeted saying, please stop. Yeah, this, this, you know, this violence, da, da, da, da. But that was ignored. And the judge said, I've actually just got hold of the remark. The judge said, oh, we're not giving her a bow because it's so serious and she might re offend. Well, probably not, because you've bailed me on the Tuesday with conditions not to post on social media. I wasn't rearrested till the Friday. I did not break those bail conditions, so therefore they had no legal grounds to remind me.

And how long were you remanded in custody for?

Forever. I didn't get out again, so they reminded me on the Friday evening.

And how long did it take from there for you to get sentenced?

So I was reminded on the 9th of August, and I was finally sentenced on the 17th of October. So I was at HMP Peterborough in between that time. So ordinarily you would have got bail, so you'd have gone. Right. And obviously hadn't put in a plea at this point either. I'd gone no plea on the advice of my. My legal team. So they were like, don't say anything yet. You know, at the minute we're thinking, you know, you're probably going to go guilty, but we need more time to look into it. Don't put in a plea. So, again, it was adjourned because the solicitor wanted to obtain a new psychiatric report and he wanted to get character references, all of those kind of, you know, the normal stuff that solicitors do. So I was remanded instantly from the police station. So I was charged.

Is that normal?

No, absolutely not. Funnily enough, I was listening to a podcast yesterday. It was Liam Tuft's one with an ex police officer that he's been in the. He'd been in the police for like, eight, nine years, and I think his name was Jay. And he was saying the same thing. He said, it's almost impossible to remind people immediately like that if somebody's got no criminal record, they're not a flight risk, you know. He said, I've been on the phone begging the CPS for me to be able to remand this person. And they've gone, no, they've got no previous.

Right?

And he'd be like, yeah, but he's gonna go straight back out here and beat that woman up and likely kill her. No, no, you can't remand her.

So why do you think you were remanded and kept for that long?

Because that's what Keir Starmer told them all to do that told the judiciary to do. He made that speech, didn't he? He said, you know, anybody involved in any of this, be it online, be it in, you will be remanded in custody straight away. So he'd obviously told the judges and the courts to say, you know, if anybody's involved in any of this, do not let them out, because that's what I've Told you to do so that's what the judges did. So they ignored all the laws, the CPS ignored the laws, the police ignored the laws and they essentially, in my opinion, unlawfully remanded me. I wasn't a flight risk, I hadn't got any previous criminal records, I'd never been arrested, I had a fixed address, you know, all of those things, there is absolutely no reason for them to remind me. So, yeah, I never got out again. So they arrested me the 9th of August. I never got home again till the 21st of August the following year.

Do you regret pleading guilty?

Yes, definitely. I got 31 months in total.

31 months for a tweet. Does that have happened before?

No. People that went out in the, in the riots, you know, There was a guy sentenced in Northampton just before me, he'd gone out in the riots, he'd gone out with crowbars and balaclavas, he'd met load of people. He was involved, he did hurt people. He was on, first of all, he was on a GBH charge. Then they dropped it to abh, then they dropped it to a fray. He was already on a suspended sentence. I think he got 20 months, 19, 29.

He got less than you.

Got less than me. And he'd gone out in the riots, he'd physically hurt people and he had previous and he still got less than me.

So how did you feel when you got 31 months?

I was just a bit shocked. But I wasn't expecting 31, I was expecting a custodial sentence. They'd made that really clear. And I remember having a meeting with probation when they did the pre sentence report. Now and interestingly, judges normally go with probation's recommendations. So probation will talk to you and it's called a pre sentencing report. They'll look at your history, they'll look at your events, they'll talk to you and then they'll make recommendations as to what to the judge, as to what they think should happen to you. And my recommendations were like community service, you know, talking to profession, that kind of thing. It was recommended to get me out of custody as soon as possible.

So you didn't think at that point you were going to go to prison?

No, I did know. I said, it's written in the report. I said, I said, you can make these recommendations all you like. I said, they are going to send me to prison. Well, you don't know that. I said, I do. I said a.

How did you know?

Because they made it so political, you know, I'm going To change my name by depot to Tory council's wife. I think I keep saying I'm going to get a number plate saying tc. No, like there wasn't. The mainstream media couldn't report on my case without putting Tory counselor's wife first. I believe that the people that really made a fuss about my tweet that were, you know, constantly retweeting it, that might have gone to the police that were making were very politically motivated.

What do you mean by politically?

They wanted Ray out. You know, like, Ray took the seat from labor when he took that seat.

Right.

And they hate my husband because he is not your typical Tory. You know, everyone just assumes that if you're Tory or rich, you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth. That couldn't be far better than the truth. My husband grew up in children's home. His mum and dad were alcoholics. He said he's actually had a really shitty upbringing and everything he's got. Not that we've got loads, but what we have got, he's worked really damn hard for and he just gets it, you know, he. He took on that role as a counselor for all the right reasons. We live in an area where he grew up. He lives, like around the corner from where he grew up. He knows everybody, you know, he's a local lad. People like him because he's just so normal and he works really hard and he's a generally nice guy, you know, so he did that role for all of the right reasons and they never really liked it because they didn't. He wasn't, you know, your typical Tory rich boy, you know, like, you know, and I just don't think they could cope with that. They used to say to him all the time, well, I think you should join Labour. You're not really a Tory, are you, Ray? And he'd be like, well, I'm certainly not. I'm certainly not labor, you know. You know, this is just pretense, the. The thing from the left isn't there, that if you're Tory, you must have loads of money and, you know, I've been really lucky in life and, you know, as you know yourself, you don't. You make your own luck, you know.

You work bloody hard.

Yeah. You do anything. Absolutely.

You didn't take a lot of risk.

You didn't get what you've got from sitting on your ass, you know. Absolutely not. It comes at a price, doesn't it? So, you know, and. And there were so many comments on social media, things like that. You know all these witch toys, they'll get away with it, they'll buy their way out of it. I worked as a childminder, he's an engineer. I don't, I don't know.

So how did you feel when you got the sentence?

I was really shocked because the conversations we'd had, as in me and my solicitor, was, yeah, I accepted that I was going to get custodial. I'd be looking around the two year mark. Even that's a lot, isn't it, for somebody that's never offended. I'd be looking at around the two year mark, but with my guilty plea, 33% off that, which they then dropped down to 25 as well. They conned me out of another 8% with tag. My sister also didn't inform me that I wasn't entitled to tag on that charge. He told me I'd get tagged, I'd be out by Christmas. So with the time I'd already served on demand, the time you'd taken off, you know, on tag, if I got two years, I'd be home for Christmas. So I was just thinking, do you know what? This is my quickest route out of here now. I'm already in here, I can't get out. They won't give me bail. I've used up my two bail applications. I did have another opportunity to go to the High Court, 10 grand just to apply for that bail. And I just felt like I might as well burn that 10 grand because you know as well as I do they were never giving me bail. They all stick together.

Yeah.

So we were like, I just don't think it's worth it, you know, I might, you might as well set fire to 10 grand. And it's just setting me up for a fall. I'm in here now. Any time that I serve now is going to come off my sentence. We'll just, you know, take the hit, so to speak.

Right.

So when they said 31 months, I couldn't believe it. And what he essentially did was he added on my credit. So I got my 25% credit for going guilty, but all he did was added it on before he took it off.

Right.

So he could have started from two years, which was the minimum the sentencing guidelines start from. And then he could have took 25% off and then I'd have obviously served 40% of that, so it'd have been a lot less. But what he did do is he said, well, you know, had you have gone to trial and been found guilty, you'd have Got four point something years. Well, hang on a minute. Isn't that the whole point of going guilty so that you don't go to trial and you get your credit? So the judge actually gave me four years something, but then he took the 25% off.

Four years for a tweet, something like that.

It was over four years. I'd have to look it up. So. But the 25% then took it down to 31 months. So.

And you served in total, how long?

12.4 months. Okay, so I served 40 of the. Of the sentence, right? Yeah.

So I want to come back to the prison part. What did you tweet?

So I said, mass deportation now set fire to all the hotels for like, for all I care, take your treacherous mps with you. My heart breaks for those families. And if that makes me racist, so be it. But obviously the so be it bit was I know that anybody that disagrees with my stance on illegal immigration is going to call me a racist and a fascist. That. And that's been going on for a long time. It's worsened over the past 12, 18 months, I think. But, you know, if you're on social media and you, you know, you're having a rant about illegal immigration or, you know, if something awful happens or an atrocity happens and you're like, well, if they hadn't been here illegally in the first place, that would never. That, you know, those kind of things. I know that the lefties are going to come at me and tell me that I'm racist and I'm intolerable and I'm a fascist and all of these, you know, things, and it's, it's just boring, you know, like, if that's the only argument you have, go away. Because it's really an intelligent argument, you know, to call me a racist. To me, being a racist is you, you know, you don't like somebody because of the color of their skin or their religion or perhaps their culture, race, religion or culture that you discriminate against somebody for those three things. I've never discriminated against anybody in my life for those three things.

So I noticed you stressed when you said what you said, for all I care. Why did you stress that?

Because it's hyperbole, isn't it? It's like, for all I care, it's not a direct order. I didn't say go. And for example, the BBC and Sky News kept saying she called for the burning down of hotels. No, I didn't. It was a flippant, angry remark, not a Nice one. Admittedly, not my finest hour, but I was angry. And you know what? If you aren't angry and deeply upset about what happened that day, that says a lot more about you than it does me because, you know, it's natural and you know, people that don't know I've lost a child. So I actually do understand how those pairs parents are feeling. You know, I can't even. Even having gone through that, I can't tell you how or it's as there's no words for them, not ever being. They've dropped their children at a dance class. There's, you know, these, these girls that love to dance, that love Taylor Swift. It should have been at, you know, one of the best days of their lives. And those parents never got to pick them up. You can't, you can't even begin to. I, I can't even begin to explain to you how their feeling. There were no words to describe that. And a similar thing happened to me one night. I went to bed. My life was pretty perfect. I had a nice life, a nice family, a nice home. Everything was perfect. And I woke up one morning and all that had changed. That's not something you ever get over, you know, it's really not. It's something that you take to the grave. So I do understand, actually, and I have every bit of sympathy for those parents and they're just, you know, it's just terrific, isn't it? No parent should take their child to a dance class and never get to pick them up. No, it's just, it's just incomprehensible, really.

And, and you said earlier you do, and you don't regret. So do you ultimately regret the tweet?

Of course. Absolutely. I regret the tweet. You know, it just wasn't a, A nice or a clever thing to say, you know, and that's really not me. I said it in a fit of anger. I don't. I'm the least violent person you'll ever meet. I've never been in trouble. I've never so much as had a fight. Only my sisters, and that doesn't count. But, yeah, like, my sisters or like, if we're out and about, they're like, oh, you know, Lucy's the. We have to look after her, you know, like, I'm, I'm not that way inclined at all.

So why do you regret the tweet then?

Because it was just a horrible thing to say, isn't it? You can't go around suggesting that, you know, we burn down Hotels or, you know, etc. It's just not. It's just not the done thing, is it? You know, and. But the fact that I did delete it that same evening after, you know, the red mists had descended, tells you that I regretted it. If I didn't regret it, I'd have left it there, wouldn't I? I'd have gone, no, sod it. That's what I think. And I'm leaving it there because I am like that. I'm very. I would dig my heels in and, you know, I don't back down. Yeah, but I just thought, no, you can't like that, take it down. And so I did, and then, yeah, I thought that was the end of it, but I was very wrong.

We'll come back to that in a moment. I'd like to talk about prison. What was prison like?

Interesting. What does that mean? Well, I don't know. I don't even know how you explain prison. I mean, it was a very humbling experience, actually. It was. It was horrible because it actually makes you realize how lucky you really are.

Right.

There are many, many women. I mean, I can't speak for the men's side because obviously women and men's estates are very different. There are many people in that prison that should not be there.

Why?

Because they just need help. They don't need prison. You've got women that are. Have suffered massive trauma, addiction, just haven't had a nice, you know, upbringing like you or I might have had with parents that loved us and the support and the families there for us. They need mental health support, they need housing, they need all of those things. They don't need being put in prison. It's just like a vicious circle for a lot of these women.

Right.

And when you listen to their stories, you very rarely find a woman in prison without a tragic story behind it. Even ones that have, like, committed murder and stuff. Yes, of course. You've got people that absolutely belong there, that are just, in my opinion, monsters and they should never be let out. But they are actually quite few and far between in the women's estate. You know, even people that have committed murders. When you listen to what actually happened.

Oh, so you're spending time with people who committed murders?

Oh, God, yeah. Child people that kill children. Women's estate isn't. Is mixed. So, like, whereas men have cat A to D and they're all, like, separated, given how bad their offense is, women aren't. So there's. It's a lot that the systems. The estate's A lot smaller. So they just. Everyone's in with everybody.

Were you scared?

Yeah, very. When I went not in, not in the end, but when I first went there, I was absolutely terrified that the offer, the two officers that met me first, they say, to this day, you know, I've never seen anybody look so terrified as you did, Lucy, when you came in. I was just beside myself. I just thought, I'm just going to get battered every day. Every day.

Was there any threat of violence?

A couple of times. That was at Drake hall when I moved to Drake hall. But Peterborough? No, it was like. The women were so lovely, actually. It sounds crazy, doesn't it? But no, they were very much in the main, of course, you had the odd idiot, but in the main, supported each other, you know, just had each other's backs and it was quite a. Oh, not nice. Nice is not the word. But the women were nice. In Peterborough, most of them, you know, they were just putting their heads down, doing their sentence. You know, the group of girls that I, you know, I got quite friendly with that just wanted to. Just wanted a quiet life, you know, just do their sentence, get through it, get out again, back to their families and stuff.

And you said it was horrible. What was horrible about it?

The worst thing was not being able to see my daughter, you know, like, I've been with her every single day since she's 13 now and after. We've never been separated. I never even put her into, you know, she did a couple of mornings at nursery when she was a baby. But apart from that, I've always been with her, you know, I've always been there to take her to school. I've always been there when she's been, you know, come home from school and yeah, it was awful, you know, not to be there and, yeah, that was definitely the hardest part. But not being away from my family and knowing, you know, and you're so helpless in prison. This is what people don't understand. They say, oh, but you get canteen and you get a telly. Yeah, you do. You know, I lived on Harry Bows and Carbs when I was in prison and I did have a telly with 80 odd channels on it, but so what? I couldn't see my family and my, you know, and when stuff was going on at home and she was having a really hard time at school and I'd just be sobbing on the end of the phone because what could I do? I was in prison, she needed me there, I needed her and I couldn't be there, you know, if that's not your world. I mean, there were some people that just come in and out of the prison system all their life, and that's just how they're always going to be, unfortunately. But that's not my world, you know, so it's very difficult when you're as independent as I am to then get every bit of freedom and rights taken away from you. You can't do anything for yourself in prison. Anything. Everything has to, you know, have to ask for everything. Everything's done in an app. Can I have this? Can I have that? You can't just go and get something. You know, there's a system to everything. You know, like I said, things were going on at home, and I was just helpless. That's an awful feeling, you know, to know that, you know, I had a friend that died while I was in there and just really suddenly, and I was just like, God's. You know, you're just helpless. And it's an awful feeling. If I didn't have my. My children and my family, I would have been able to do it quite easily. You know, I can. I can do anything. I'm not a princess, but, yeah, it's everybody else, you know, it's not you. It's. It's. And that's the hardest part of prison, I think. And, you know, I tried to help as many people as I could. I really did. You know, I wasn't judgmental to these girls. I just. I felt for most of them. There were some of them that I just didn't want anything to do with for some of the reasons, you know, that some of the stuff they'd done wasn't interested, stayed away from them. But I wanted to just help as many people as I could. You know, there were women in there that can't even read and write. And it used to become a standing joke that I used to write all this stuff for them. I used to do letters for them, complaints for them. And. And, you know, if I could help somebody, absolutely would. You know, I'd buy some of the girls stuff because, you know, I was one of the lucky ones in prison. I had family and friends sending me money, visiting me. I was able to phone home every day. I had the money on my, you know, account to do that. So many girls in prison don't have that. They don't have families sending them in money so they don't get any luxuries in prison. You know, it's prison food, and that's that, you know, you can't even buy a Bag of sugar. So I very much tried my absolute best to help everybody and not judge anybody because, you know, people make mistakes. Nobody is whiter than white, you know, half the time. There was a prison officer at Peterborough that I really liked. He was funny and there is some first name terms at Peter B. It's not Sarah or Miss, it's their first names. And I remember someone called him sir one day, went, don't call me sir. He said, I'm no different to you. He just desired something caught, you know, like. And it's true because what you're telling me, you've never broke the speed limit, you've never maybe got in your car and you. Not intentionally, but you might have been over the limit and you could have got caught or there's a million and one things. You could get in your car tomorrow and God forbid you could put your head down and run somebody over you. There's a massive chance that you would end up in prison for that, you know, death by dangerous driving. I met women that were in there for that. It doesn't make them bad people. Not everybody that's done bad things are bad people. And it's very humbling like that because I was that person beforehand and I was like, well, they're in prison, they've done something wrong, they should be there. I don't have much sympathy for them, but my attitude massively changed when I met these women and I heard their stories and I realized what some of them had gone through and continue to go through. And the saddest part is they'll just probably be like that all their life, you know, because the help's just not there for them. There's no rehabilitation in prison, right? None.

And how's your life changed since?

It's a bit crazy, like for the better.

Like your life is better now, not.

Better, but like when it first happened, I feel like the tide has changed a bit as well. Like when it first happened, I just felt like public enemy number one. I just couldn't quite believe how much attention I was getting for. For nobody. I was really. I don't. I'll never really get my head around how much an example I was made of how much I was on the news and the national TV constantly given. I really was just a. A wife that lived in a three bed semi in Northampton. You know, like, it just. It's just bizarre to me. I went from being someone that nobody knew to somebody that everybody seemed to know. And it took a while to get my head around that, but I Think as time went on, and especially after my appeal as well, even though I didn't win my appeal, I was able to kind of put my side out and my barrister was really good and he was able to, you know, fill in some gaps, so to speak. And then I think people kind of thought, hang on a minute, she's been stitched up here, you know, like, a lot. And even people that were perhaps saying in the beginning, well, she should have gone to prison, when actually they dug a bit deeper, I think they were thinking, this is harsh, you know. Yes. She shouldn't have said what she should have said what she said. But should we really be sending prison people to prison for things like this, for social media tweets? Poor Peter lynch never came out. You know, he never came out. He died, he committed suicide. You know, he went into prison for holding a sign in the street. He already had mental health issues. As far as I'm concerned, the people that did that have blood on their hands. You know, like, why are we sending people like that to jail? It's a massive waste of everyone's time and money, of taxpayers money. 55 grand a year minimum to put somebody in prison for a year to achieve what?

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Yeah, it's not too horrific.

What can't you say and do?

I have to. Mostly I have to seek permission from probation to do certain things. So, in a nutshell, they don't want me going to protests and stuff. Not they ever did, anyway. So if I want to go anywhere with over 50 people, I have to seek their permission.

Even if you went to a football game?

Well, no, this is where it's kind of a bit ambiguous because what they really mean is they don't want me going to. Standing outside a hotel, you know, the.

Bell host, protesting, basically. Are you allowed to post on social media.

I'm allowed to post on social media, which is a bit backwards really, isn't it, considering that that was what my offense was, you know. Yeah, I can post on social media but I'm not allowed to delete anything on my phone and they are allowed to check my phone. I'm allowed. I have to let them check my phone, which is fine. There's nothing on there, you know, that they're going to find.

How do they do that? Where they come over and check it or.

No, they've just. I just. When I go into probation, I just open my phone and they might scroll through my Facebook or what have you to make sure, you know.

How often do you have to check.

In at the minute? Every two weeks. It was every week. Now it's. They've done it every two.

You have to go and check in every week for a deleted post.

And yeah, I'm unlicensed. That's till March 2027. I have to do this and I'm hoping that they'll take some of the conditions off between now and then.

Can you go on holiday?

No. Well, you can go and that. We've just been on holiday, but only in this country, which again, I had to seek their permission.

So you can't leave the country.

I'm Mapper Level three.

What does that mean?

That's what they put terrorists and rapists on. They say to me it's because of the press interest. That's their excuse for putting me on MAPA Level three. They say it's because there's a lot of press interest and they need to manage the press. Da da da di da. So not only does any request I make have to go to probation, they then have to go to mapa, which is like a board of people. It stands for Multi Agency Public Protection. So if I say, can I go to this event? They then have to go to the MAPPA meeting and say, can Lucy go to this event? And they'll be like the police officers there and probation officers and this. Or, you know, lots of different agencies deciding whether I'm safe to go to go to. You know, like I went to the reform conference, for example, had to seek their permission to go there. We went away last week, stayed in a hotel in Northumberland, had to seek their permission to go there. That's standard though, actually, that the things like telling them because you have to stay in your fixed address, that you know they know you are. So if you're not going to be staying there, you have to Tell them. Can't. You can't leave the country, can't go bored unless extenuating circumstances, like maybe someone died or possibly a wedding, something like that.

Is there anything you can't say?

No. As in as long as it's legal. Right, yeah. And. And we've had. I've had this discussion with them. I'm like, I'm not prepare to shut up, if that makes sense, you know, as long as whatever I'm saying is legal and not derogatory, etc, I can say what I like because I'm. Believe it or not, we do have free speech in this country.

Oh, you think we do?

Oh, well, we don't know, but we're supposed to, aren't we? And you can't shut people down just because you don't like their opinion. It's disgusting. How have we got to this stage in the UK where if somebody doesn't like what you're saying, if they don't agree with your saying, they go. They can't. They want you canceled. And not only do they want you canceled, they go after your family, they go after your children, they go after your businesses, they stop at nothing.

Who's they?

The people that. I would call them extreme lefties. I wouldn't even say leftist because, like, my family are all lefties. You know, they're all northern and my mum's a lefty, but she certainly wouldn't dream of, you know, seeking out something somebody had said that she didn't like and finding out where they worked and going to their employer and make, you know, this started quite a while ago. This. Did, you know, this cancel culture where it happened to a friend of mine on Twitter as well. He's got his own business and they sought out, they. He's got an anonymous account. But, you know, they managed to find out who he was and where he worked and then they were, you know, making malicious claims about his business and all because his politics don't align with yours. Give your head a wobble. Wow, really? Are you really that nasty that you would, you know, people jeering at me that, yeah, she, she deserved to go to prison. Oh, and my, My family deserved that, did they? My, My daughter deserved to. To be without her mummy for. For over a year and struggle the way she struggled. You people are abhorrent. That's all I've got to say to you. There's just this culture now that, you know, especially with social media of, like, and that's how I feel that what happened to me, you know, the people that didn't like me. And I say didn't like me. They don't know me. No, they just think they don't like you, don't they?

You know, they didn't like a couple of your tweets or.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure you've had it yourself. You know, you're successful, you've done well for yourself. Have you ever had anybody attack you or.

Yes.

Slander you? Yes, of course. But are they in a position where they've done better than you in life?

No.

There you go. There's your question.

No haters are ever doing better than you because successful people are too busy to hate on us.

And I.

And I see this and they know what it takes.

And I've noticed this quite a lot just recently, you know, like, just from observing, after I've come out, and I just think, why are you attacking that guy? Why? Because he's got a better car than you? More money in his bank. That didn't. And. And the way I see it, it's like, good luck to you. You might be envious. You might think, well, I'd love that house or I'd love that car. But there's a big difference between envy and jealousy, isn't there? And, wow, I just. We've just become such a hateful culture right now, you know, like, why. Why not wish people well and it's okay to say, I don't agree with that person and move on. You don't have to go to such extents to, you know, try and ruin people or slander people. Not just me, but just people in general. Because you don't like what they say. Yeah, I'd say tough shit. And I don't like lots of things that lots of people say. But I scroll on, you know.

Yeah, I've spoken out in defense of people who've been cancelled. And one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you. It's not even relevant if I agree or disagree. If people are being canceled and imprisoned for their opinion, and it isn't breaking the law. If you don't stand up for that, regardless of their opinion, then you will be next.

I think this is what happened with me. I think everybody themselves and went, oh.

God, that could be me. Yeah, that could be everyone.

And everybody kind of recoiled, didn't they, on social media and stuff, and then thought, you know what? They're gonna come knocking on my door.

But then they. But then they win, don't they?

Win this? And it's such A fine line, isn't it? Because I am sorry for what I tweeted. I shouldn't have tweeted it. But I also do not agree that I was treated fairly, you know, and I do not, and I never will believe that we should be sending anybody to jail for, you know, a social media post. Maybe if it was like a campaign of hate, you know, that had gone on for a long time, different circumstances, that kind of. That's why we have the Malicious Communications act, isn't it?

So I've got a question for you.

Yeah.

If Keir Starmer was sitting here, what would you say?

What would I say? I'm not sure I'd want to sit next to him.

But if he was, I took contempt for him.

If he was, I would just ask him what. What he thinks he's actually achieving right now. I mean, let's not. He is. He must be the world's most, you know, the country's most hated. He certainly is. In my time. I. Even people that voted for him that I know are like, what have I done? He's. He's just, like. He just seems to be on some kind of rampage to. He won't listen, will he? Like, he's so arrogant and he's so. He thinks he's doing everything right and clearly is not. You know, do you think if there's an election tomorrow, people would vote for him? I don't.

Well, the opinion polls wouldn't say so, no.

So I would say to him, start listening to the people that voted for you. That's what I would say. Start asking people like yourselves and stuff, the taxpayers, the people that are, you know, helping your economy and. And, you know, propping it up. Because, you know, I listened to one of your podcasts with James English the other day, and you were saying about all these billionaires are leaving the country and they're all going. Dubai is a really big place to be going.

And millionaires, can you blame them? No, no, you. Why would you stay where the streets aren't safe and more than half your money is taken when you can go somewhere where the streets are safe and you keep nearly all your money and they embrace Progress, entrepreneurship, and 100 and I.

100. You know, I can understand why people are leaving the country in droves. You need these people. He's so ignorant and arrogant to think that you don't need these people. Yeah, let them go to Dubai. Let them go to wherever they're going to go. We don't need them. Well, you do.

And I think What a lot of the working class people are now starting to understand that they didn't is at first it's like, yeah, the politics of envy. Send away all the billions, they don't pay any tax. Well, number one is a billionaire doesn't leave because they're not paying any tax. A billionaire leaves because they're paying too much tax. Because if they weren't paying any tax.

They would stay, wouldn't they?

They wouldn't leave. And the second thing is when those hundreds of billions in tax revenue that's taxed, like from the richest man in the UK who left, Lakshmi Mittal, that bill gets passed on to everyone else. So the middle class gets squeezed down into the working class and the working class pick up the bill of the rich.

Absolutely. And so who is he trying to appease here? Because he's not really.

I don't know.

I don't get it.

I don't know him and I'd love to have a conversation with him, but.

I don't think he'd listen. This is what I'm saying. Like, I've met many politicians and you know, coven and previous and many of some of them are arrogant, but many of them do actually take on board what you say and listen, you know, I think Nigel Farge is one of them. I've had lots of conversations with him, you know, just normal, down to earth conversations with him.

Yeah.

And he's taken on board what you've said. And you know, I just, I just don't think Keir Starmer is taken on board what the people of this country, and more importantly people that voted for him want. He just seems to be going off on a tangent, doing whatever he, he sees fit. And I just think it's not even about what's not fair, it's about what's realistic. People haven't got the money. How do people live on like 30. This sounds really.

Well, the average salary is 37,000.

If you've got 43234 children, you've got one person working on 34. I don't even know how you pay your bills on that. I just don't know. And I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I just don't know how they do it. There must be in a lot of debt or they're really scraping the barrel to live anything like it. And if you're working, you should be able to go on a holiday and you should be able to not worry about how you're paying for your next food bill, should you, you know, you should be able to live an okay life without worrying how you're going to pay your water bill. You know, whether you can afford to take the kids to Yarmouth next year or wherever it is, you know, you should, that is just the basic thing that families, if you work hard, you know, all year round, should be able to. You should have things to look forward to, don't shouldn't you?

Yeah, it's all doom here. So I've got one more question for you, Lucy, and I want you to try and answer this honestly and balanced and neutrally. It might not be an easy one, but let's say you're there, you're feeling how you're feeling, you're on X, you're making your post, you are still angry. What would you do differently? I mean, would you still post it? Would you not post it? What would you do differently?

I would perhaps just leave out the burning of hotels down. I would still absolutely stand by mass deportation. I think we do actually need a. And I believe that we should be detaining anybody that's not checked and here legally. I stand by that. I do not believe there's anything racist in that. I just think it's common sense and it's safety. You know, you cannot walk in, into any other country and just do as you like without having a passport and then wanting to know why you're there. So I think I would. The same sentiment would be there as in, I do want these people deported that here illegally. I do want them detained until they've been checked, until we, you know, but obviously I would leave, leave out the, you know, the burning down of hotels bit because that's, you know, that's really not what, you know, what I'm about. And we really can't go around doing things like that. But yeah, I am still angry with all the politicians, not just this government, the previous government. Let's not let. Let. As much as I dislike labor, let's not pretend this is all their fault.

No.

Because we had 13 years of, of a conservative government that just conservatives were conservatives and ran the country into the ground. And I say that as a Conservative voter, but, you know, previously.

Yeah.

Which is why reformer are cleaning up at the minute.

What? Because they're more conservatives than conservatives.

And where else are you going to vote if you're an ex Tory? You're certainly not going to vote labor, you're not going to vote Green or Lib Dems. And a lot of people feel that they do have to vote. And I get, and I get that, so that's really, I think it's. They think, well, it's the only option we've got, isn't it? You know, even if you didn't, I mean, I do agree with reforms policies, but even if you didn't necessarily agree with all of them and you wanted to vote, you might think, well, who else, who else am I going to vote for? So, yeah, I do think it's really important that people were still able to express themselves and say what they say, what they feel without worrying about who it's going to offend. Because, you know, I think it's it Ricky Gervais says you don't get to live your life without ever being offended. It's really, you know, arrogant to think that you can go through your whole life, you know, you're never going to be offended. It's not a God given right never to be offended. Yeah, in a nutshell, I obviously would have. I still stand by, you know, I think illegal immigration is really bad for this country, that we should be deporting more people, that we should be detaining more people. But obviously we can do that in a, in a humane way, can't we? Without violence and, you know, or being awful to anyone.

Yeah.

And I do think it's really important that people still post what they want to post, as long as it's not racist or derogatory or violent, whatever. Because. And, and we shouldn't be like, oh, can I post that? Can I say this? Can I say this?

A lot of people feel that now.

They do. But I think we need to get back to, you know what, I will post that or I will say this. But again, there's always somebody waiting in there and lurking to say, well, you can't say that because it's xyz. And you know what another thing I find really quite funny that everyone's. The things, these people, that people are supposed to be offended by. For example, I've never met a Muslim that's offended by Father Christmas or Christmas or Father Christmas in the bullring. I've never met anybody that's offended by a gingerbread man being called a gingerbread man. So where is this actually all coming from? Because in the real world, I know people of all walks of life and nobody, regardless of their religion, color, background, is offended by any of these things that everybody's allegedly offended by. So who is sitting in their ivory towers going today, I don't know. I honestly don't know. Like who? Because it's not people that live in the real world.

Yeah.

Not people with real life experience that have gone out and built businesses for themselves and got their own children. It's a bit like the, you know, we all cease to say it. My. My child would never do that.

Oh, yeah, that great. Yeah. When you've got a 25 year old podcaster telling people how to raise, never.

Having an iPad or like you wait.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, like it's one of those situations, isn't it? Because in the real world, I don't know anybody that's offended by these things. I don't know anybody in real life that's offended by the English flag or a poppy or a chair chairman. Calling being a chairman instead of a chairperson. You know, all of this crazy that it just. And it seems to get worse by the day and everyone just sits there going, who is making this up? Because nobody cares. There's bigger fish to fry, isn't there, than what you call a gingerbread man? Wow.

And I think that's a great little sentence to finish the show on. Lucy, I really appreciate you coming.

Thank you for having me.

Thanks for speaking out about these things and not just, you know, going in into hiding. I'm sorry for what happened to you.

Thank you, Sam.