Ex MP Jared O'Mara will not be giving evidence in his defence
The former Sheffield Hallam MP is on trial accused of fraud offences
A former MP accused of making fraudulent expense claims to fund a cocaine habit will not be giving evidence in his defence, a jury has been told.
Jared O'Mara, 41, who represented Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, is on trial accused of submitting fake invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) in a bid to fraudulently claim up to £30,000 in taxpayers' money.
On Tuesday Mark Kelly KC, defending O'Mara, told jurors that he would not be calling any evidence.
Leeds Crown Court heard the defendant, who has been attending the trial via video link, had been given the opportunity to give evidence either at court or over the link.
O'Mara is accused of making four fraudulent claims to Ipsa between June and August 2019 from a "fictitious" organisation called Confident About Autism SY, and submitting two invoices from his friend and "chief of staff" Gareth Arnold for media and PR work that prosecutors say was never carried out.
It is also claimed that O'Mara submitted a false contract of employment for another friend, John Woodliff, "pretending" that he worked as a constituency support officer.
O'Mara is charged with eight counts of fraud by false representation, with Arnold jointly charged with six of the offences, and Woodliff jointly charged with one.
O'Mara won Sheffield Hallam for Labour from former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg in 2017, but later left the party after a series of controversies.
He stayed in office as an independent MP but did not contest the 2019 general election.
O'Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield; Arnold, of School Lane, Dronfield, Derbyshire; and Woodliff, of Hesley Road, Shiregreen, Sheffield, deny all charges.
The trial continues.