Jared O'Mara: Ex-Sheffield Hallam MP denies fraud charges

Former MP Jared O'Mara has denied making fraudulent invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Mr O'Mara, 39, is accused of submitting false expense claims worth £28,700.

Appearing at Sheffield Magistrates court via video link he denied seven counts of fraud and another charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Mr O'Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield, was MP for Sheffield Hallam from June 2017 to November 2019.

He appeared at court alongside his former aide Gareth Arnold, 28, of School Lane, Dronfield, who denied six counts of fraud, and John Woodliff, 42, of Hesley Road, Sheffield, who pleaded not guilty to a single charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is the body that regulates MPs' staffing and business costs as well as their pay and pensions.

The court was told that some of the counts relate to "services purported to have been provided by Gareth Arnold", and others refer to "services purported to have been provided by Confident About Autism South Yorkshire".

The offences are alleged to have occurred in periods between October 2018 and February last year.

District Judge Paul Goldspring said the case needed to be heard by a crown court judge and the three men were bailed and will appear before Sheffield Crown Court on 25 October.

Mr O'Mara won the Sheffield Hallam constituency for Labour from former Lib Dem leader Sir Nick Clegg in 2017, but later left the party following a series of controversies.

He stayed in office as an independent MP but did not contest the 2019 general election.