Overview

• Lucy Connolly is serving a 31-month sentence after a tweet about asylum seekers was ruled an incitement to racial hatred and upheld by the Court of Appeal
• Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice visited her at HMP Peterborough and said she was handcuffed without provocation, denied privileges, and confined with violent inmates
• ‘Lucy’s Bill’ was tabled on June 25 as a Criminal Cases Review (Public Petition) Ten Minute Rule Bill requiring at least 500 petitioners to trigger case reviews
• The proposed legislation aims to create a public backstop for sentences deemed unduly harsh or unduly lenient and to bolster confidence in judicial fairness
• The Bill faces a second reading on July 11 despite the historically low passage rate of private member’s bills