Jared O'Mara: Fraud-accused MP ran a dysfunctional office - court

Jared O'Mara served as MP for Sheffield Hallam from June 2017 to November 2019

A former MP on trial for fraud ran a "dysfunctional office" with an invoicing system "completely in disarray", a court heard.

Jared O'Mara, 41, who represented Sheffield Hallam between 2017 and 2019, is accused of making fraudulent expenses claims.

Prosecutors allege false invoices for amounts totalling nearly £30,000 were sent off, partly to fund his "extensive cocaine habit".

Mr O'Mara denies eight counts of fraud.

The former MP, of Walker Close in Sheffield, was elected to Parliament for Labour in June 2017 but quit the party the following year and became an independent.

He stood down in 2019, the same year it is alleged the fraud offences took place.

The jury heard invoices were submitted to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which was established in the aftermath of the 2009 scandal over MPs' expenses.

Georgia Wilson, director of MP services at IPSA, told Leeds Crown Court she started to investigate some of Mr O'Mara's expenses submissions after being contacted by South Yorkshire Police.

Gareth Arnold, left, and John Woodliff, pictured at a previous hearing, are on trial alongside Mr O'Mara

Ms Wilson said invoices submitted for services by "Confident About Autism South Yorkshire (CAASY)" were not paid out for reasons including inconsistent formatting and insufficient detail on what services were provided.

"We offered to speak to the suppliers, he didn't take up that offer," she told the court.

Ms Wilson said Mr O'Mara gave her the impression CAASY was his co-accused, John Woodliff.

"John Woodliff was employed by him and was already on the payroll, but this [invoice] was for services as well - that would be very unusual," she said.

The jury previously heard that the third defendant, Gareth Arnold, alerted police in July 2019 "after reaching a point at which he was no longer willing to participate in the fraud".

Asked by Mark Kelly KC, representing Mr O'Mara, whether Ms Wilson was getting the sense of a "dysfunctional office", she replied: "Yes, at some point I decided that the office was dysfunctional".

Jurors heard Mr O'Mara's office manager, who had been a proxy for submitting his expenses claims, left in April 2019 with invoices submitted from his office after this departure described as "ad hoc" and "looked completely in disarray".

Mr Woodliff, 43, of Hesley Road, Shiregreen, denies one charge of fraud,

Mr Arnold, 30, of School Lane, Dronfield, Derbyshire, denies six.

The trial continues.