Northampton Tory councillor speaks out about wife's guilty plea
West Northants Tory councillor Raymond Connolly spoke outside of Northampton Crown Court after his wife Lucy pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred with a tweet published on X in July.
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00:00Just tell me a bit about how you're feeling after that.
00:05I'm kind of relieved actually, it's all over.
00:10These last few months have been quite traumatic for Lucy and the children.
00:22The stuff I hear on the TV is not really Lucy.
00:27She's probably the opposite of what she's having to admit to.
00:35But she knows that she's overstepped the mark and there's consequences for it.
00:42So hopefully she'll be able to learn from this and move on with her life.
00:49What has she said about it to you now reflecting on what happened and what she did?
00:54It's just a moment of an upset housewife really.
01:04Just seeing children in the reports with all the misinformation.
01:11And then just got dragged into it and obviously she conflicts.
01:16Which she did for a couple of hours after she put the link up.
01:20But obviously it came back on a week or so later.
01:24And her husband's a Tory councillor and here we are today.
01:29What's been the effect then on your role as a councillor?
01:33I've had really good support from my fellow councillors. It's not affected my role.
01:38I've had messages from support from residents to say not to resign.
01:43Even though I've had messages to say to, they've said not to.
01:49So I'll leave it to the next elections and not let them resign me.
01:55Clearly quite emotional. It must have been a bizarre time for you.
02:00What sort of impact has it had on reflecting on what she said and the impact her words could have had?
02:06When I see those words spoken all the time.
02:13But obviously the likelihood of taking it on board.
02:19And obviously it was quite upsetting times for people.
02:23So I'm sure she regrets it.
02:26Does she regret it?
02:28Does she regret making a statement or does she regret being called?
02:34She regrets making the statement. She took it off after a couple of hours.
02:39Because she realised, obviously with the internet and it was all so much misinformation.
02:48There was many accusations, different names coming up.
02:52And then she realised that it was, she'd made a mistake.
02:59Does she accept that the tweet was racist?
03:02I don't think she's not that person. I'm not too sure really.
03:13All I know is she's not that person. She's probably the opposite to that actually.
03:19She really is.
03:21Why do you think she tweeted it then?
03:23She has, because we lost our own son.
03:31Any children who might get harmed or anything, she will kick off.
03:36That's it really.
03:38And obviously that's come up and obviously she'll just keep it.
03:42But it's not just, I know obviously that situation, it was a racist thing.
03:47But there was non-racial children where she's kicked off her belt.
03:50Which I won't mention their names because I don't want to bring their parents into it.
03:55But English children where they've been let down and she has kicked off about that as well.
04:02And how many children do you have?
04:04I have three.
04:06Three children.
04:08Three alive.
04:10How is your wife feeling about the judge's sentencing?
04:15I haven't spoke to her about it but obviously she just feels because of the Tory tag.
04:22She's like the, she expects that because it's just the Tory tag for her.
04:31What she thinks, whether she changes her mind over the next few days, I don't know.
04:36But that's what she's thinking.
04:37I mean, she'll cope with whatever they throw at her.
04:44She's got a strong resilience and hopefully she'll come back a better person.
04:51Is that the way on your mind though? The fact that the Tory connection?
04:57Only because like, I mean like I just see everything seems to be Tory councillor's wife, Tory councillor's wife, Tory councillor's wife.
05:05She's just a middle aged mother but it's Tory councillor's wife.
05:10And that's the, I mean I've got emails sent to me, they're not like going on about Lucy, it's like Tory scum, Tory scum.
05:18It's to me. What's that got to do with Lucy's situation?
05:22I mean I can understand if they were putting something about Lucy but it's just Tory scum.
05:27But listen, I've done my best for you and hopefully you enjoy the rest of your day.
05:35Can I just get one picture of you?