Overview
- She is due to be released from HMP Peterborough in August after serving 40% of her 31-month sentence under licence conditions.
- Connolly was sentenced in October by Birmingham Crown Court for a tweet calling for mass deportations and arson at hotels housing migrants, posted on the day three girls were murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
- Her appeal in May at the Court of Appeal was rejected, with judges ruling the original sentence was neither manifestly excessive nor disproportionate.
- Critics including Suella Braverman and Liz Truss have condemned the jail term as politicised and unfair, and Reform UK figures have backed her campaign for early release.
- The case attracted international scrutiny when the White House said it was monitoring proceedings amid broader concerns about free speech protections in Britain.