UK: Did ex-Labour MP try to steal £30,000 public money to fund cocaine habit?

London: A former Member of Parliament from the Labour party is facing trials in a UK court for attempting to illegally claim up to £30,000 of taxpayers’ money to buy cocaine. Jared O’Mara, 41, allegedly sent fake invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) while serving as the representative for Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019. Jurors at Leeds Crown Court heard that between June and August 2019, he submitted four claims to Ipsa from the “fictitious” organisation Confident About Autism SY and two invoices from his “chief of staff,” Gareth Arnold, for media and PR work that, according to the prosecution, was never performed. O’Mara, who made a virtual court appearance on Monday, is also charged with fabricating a contract of employment for his friend John Woodliff in order to “pretend” that Woodliff was a constituency support officer working for him. Eight counts of fraud by false representation are brought against O’Mara; Arnold and Woodliff are jointly charged with six of the offences. Ipsa, the organisation established during the expenses scandal to control MPs’ personnel and business costs, did not pay out any of the claims, according to prosecutor James Bourne-Arton, since there was no proof that the work had actually been done. The prosecutor Bourne-Arton told the court, “Jared O’Mara considered Ipsa and the taxpayer money that they managed as a source of revenue that was his to claim and use whatever he pleased, not least in the fulfilment of his heavy cocaine habit”. Sadly, Jared O’Mara’s longtime friends Arnold and Woodliff were persuaded to believe his false assertions. According to testimony given in court, O’Mara’s longtime buddy Arnold contacted South Yorkshire Police in the summer of 2019 after “reaching a stage where he was no longer willing to participate in the deception.” “It’s a bit of a hard one, but yesterday I spoke to the 999 service and the mental health crisis team about my employer, who I feel is suffering from a severe psychotic episode and has delusions of a conspiracy against him,” Arnold stated in his conversation to the police, which was played to the jury. “Additionally, I think he has just recently began filing false expenditure reports to the government,” he added. The allegedly bogus bills included £4,650 for Arnold and £19,400 for support from Confident About Autism SY. Confident About Autism SY, according to Bourne-Arton, was “Jared O’Mara’s creation that he planned to slide through as a genuine claim, doubtlessly intending to hide behind the fact that it linked to his condition if ever challenged.” He informed the jury that there was no proof that Arnold had provided any training or consulting services and that “genuine people” who were working for O’Mara at the time were unaware of him. One invoice was refused by Ipsa three times in June and July, and the remaining invoices were all either rejected or not processed. The invoices, notably those from Confident About Autism, have inconsistent references, differing formats, and in one instance, they were dated for a date after they had been submitted for payment, according to Bourne-Arton. Jurors were informed that on July 2, 2019, when Arnold called South Yorkshire Police, they were made aware of the alleged fraud at the same time as Ipsa was alerting O’Mara to concerns about the claims. “(Arnold) depicted an undeniably sad state of affairs in which O’Mara was clearly unable to handle the post he held, was in terrible mental health, and was heavily addicted to cocaine that he was abusing in enormous amounts,” Bourne-Arton added. According to financial investigations, O’Mara was “living within or beyond his means and in desperate need of cash,” the court heard. “It appears that he was funding a large cocaine habit that both Gareth Arnold and John Woodliff were plainly aware of,” the prosecutor said. The three defendants were detained following an investigation, and Woodliff, who was a nightclub doorman when O’Mara was the manager, allegedly admitted during his detention that “I knew it was dodgy.” The court heard that in February 2020, O’Mara sent Ipsa an email claiming falsely that the police inquiry had ended with no further action needed and that he was entitled to payment for the two bills for services rendered by Arnold. In 2017, O’Mara defeated Sir Nick Clegg, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, to win Sheffield Hallam for Labour. However, O’Mara eventually quit the party due to internal conflicts. Despite remaining in office as an independent MP, he did not run in the general election of 2019. All allegations are refuted by O’Mara of Walker Close in Sheffield, Arnold of School Lane in Dronfield, Derbyshire, and Woodliff of Hesley Road in Shiregreen, Sheffield. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.