A free speech row has erupted in Britain after the wife of a former Conservative councillor had her appeal against a prison sentence dismissed.

Lucy Connolly appealed for early release after being locked up for 31 months over a tweet during the Southport riots last year.

She posted a message on X saying hotels housing asylum seekers should be “set on fire”.

The three judges who denied her claimed that the enormous sentence was fair and reasonable, despite serious criminals getting early release amid the ongoing prison space crisis. The Court of Appeal added that her original sentence was “manifestly excessive” and refused her application to appeal against it.

The decision sparked a fierce debate on whether this was the evidence of “two tier justice”.

Ms Connolly fumed: “Shame on them! Those three judges that were sitting there in court should be ashamed of themselves, they are cruel… Women here in jail, they have made mistakes and you listen to their stories and you think, ‘You are poor, you are vulnerable, you didn’t know better, you made really bad choices, you can be forgiven’.

“But those judges, intelligent men, they didn’t make a mistake. It’s cruel and twisted what they did.

“Absolute rotten b——s. Rotten, dictating b——d judges. They’re keeping me away from my child. It’s three more months without her, and her without me.”

She’s received support from dozens of politicians and commentators, including Reform UK deputy Richard Tice.

Mr Tice said: “The judges made an evil, politically motivated decision to keep Lucy in prison. Two tier justice.

“Judges are puppets to their boss Starmer. Shameful people.”

Rupert Lowe has also started a parliamentary petition demanding that limited prison space be used for genuine criminals rather than people incarcerated for tweeting.