Former South Yorkshire MP loses bid to appeal jail sentence

Jared O'Mara was jailed for expenses fraud in February 2023

Jared O'Mara
Author: Liam ArrowsmithPublished 26th Sep 2023

A former South Yorkshire MP who was jailed for expenses fraud has lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge his four year prison sentence.

Jared O'Mara was convicted of six counts of fraud in February, after trying to claim about £52,000 of taxpayers' money for constituency work that was never done and jobs that did not exist.

The 41-year-old, who represented Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, went on trial at Leeds Crown Court for submitting "dishonest" invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) between June and August 2019.

He was accused of making fraudulent expenses claims to fund an "extensive" cocaine habit, with a judge later saying it had been "cynical, deliberate and dishonest".

O'Mara sought permission to appeal his sentence, but Mrs Justice Lambert, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, rejected his case at a short hearing in London on Tuesday.

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