Jared O'Mara: Former Sheffield Hallam MP jailed for fraud offences to fund his 'extensive' cocaine habit

The former Sheffield Hallam MP was found guilty at a trial at Leeds Crown Court earlier this week, and was sentenced by a judge today (Feb 9).

Jared O’Mara was convicted of six counts of fraud after trying to claim around £24,000 of taxpayers’ money for work that was never carried out and jobs that did not exist.

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

He appeared via video link throughout the trial but was told to appear in person for his sentencing.

Leeds Crown Court heard 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 was also found to have submitted a false contract of employment for Woodliff, pretending he worked as a constituency support officer. Woodliff was cleared by the jury of having any role in the fraud.

The former nightclub manager was cleared of two fraud charges over invoices from another friend, Gareth Arnold, for media work that prosecutors 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 he was entitled to be paid the two invoices relating to Arnold, which totalled £4,650.

Prosecutors said the total value of the fraud was about £52,000, including Mr Woodliff’s proposed salary of £28,000.

Prosecutor James Bourne-Arton said the fraud was not a victimless crime and that it had an impact on other MPs “because it undermines public trust and confidence in them”.

Mark Kelly KC, defending O’Mara, said he wanted to apologise to his constituents “for his failure to resign in October 2017” when controversial comments he made online before becoming an MP were revealed.

“When he felt that he was being hounded by the media, whether that is the case or not, he felt under pressure from the media for certain circumstances that had come to light,” Mr Kelly said.

He told the court O’Mara was “an inadequate individual to cope with the stresses and strains of public life” and “resorted to taking drugs, alcohol and distancing himself in many respects from those that were around him”.

“These circumstances were very difficult circumstances for him to cope with, with his particular disabilities,” Mr Kelly added.

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.