Ex Sheffield Hallam MP found guilty of fraud to fund drug habit

Former Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam Jared O'Mara has been found guilty of fraudulently claiming expenses while he was an MP to fund a cocaine habit.

The former politician tried to claim around £24,000 of taxpayers' money for his "extravagant lifestyle", but was today convicted of six counts of fraud.

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

Leeds Crown Court heard that he made four claims for a total of £19,400 from a "fictitious" organisation called Confident About Autism South Yorkshire, which jurors were told referred to his friend, John Woodliff.

O'Mara also submitted a false contract of employment for Woodliff, "pretending" he worked as a constituency support officer.

The ex-MP was found not guilty of two fraud charges over invoices from another friend, Gareth Arnold, for media and PR work that prosecutors had claimed was never carried out.

But he was convicted of an offence of fraud after emailing Ipsa in February 2020, falsely claiming the police investigation into him had been completed and that he was entitled to be paid the two invoices relating to Arnold, which totalled £4,650.

Arnold, who became O'Mara's chief of staff in June 2019, was found guilty of three fraud charges, and cleared of three.

Woodliff was found not guilty of one offence of fraud.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC told O’Mara he must attend court for sentencing on Thursday, saying: “I have permitted you until now to attend via video-link, but I’m afraid that indulgence has now ceased.”

During the trial, the court heard that Ipsa – which was set up after the expenses scandal to regulate MPs’ staffing and business costs – did not pay out any of the claims due to a lack of evidence that the work had been done.

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