Jared O’Mara has today been sentenced to four years in prison at Leeds Crown Court, after being convicted of six counts of fraud. During his time in office, he attempted to claim up to £30,000 of “taxpayer’s” money by submitting “dishonest” invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (ISPA).
O’Mara rose to prominence with the general election of 2017, unexpectedly winning Sheffield Hallam for Labour, a seat which had been held by the Liberal Democrat’s Nick Clegg for 12 years. He was initially praised as role model for those with disabilities as he lives with cerebral palsy amongst other disabilities, and claims to be the UK’s first autistic MP.
Omara’s fall from grace
However, things quickly went downhill as by October 2017, evidence of racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments that O’Mara made online before he was an MP had come to light and he was suspended from the Labour Party. He was then allowed back into the party in July 2018, but by then he had already stepped back from his parliamentary duties on the advice of his GP. He resigned from the Labour Party just a couple of weeks later.
O’Mara remained as in independent MP for Sheffield Hallam until 2019 when, with rumours swirling of mistreatment of staff, sexual misconduct and corruption, he announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election.
Fraud conviction for the former Sheffield MP
Leeds Crown Court heard how messages exchanged between O’Mara and fellow defendant Gareth Arnold, who received a 15 month prison term suspended for two years, suggest O’Mara had been smoking and drinking heavily and taking large quantities of cocaine which had left him thousands of pounds in debt.
He was found guilty of six counts of fraud by false representation, having come up with “a series of scams” to get money from the ISPA. These included four claims totalling £19,400 for services provided by a “fictitious” organisation called Confident About Autism South Yorkshire and nearly £5,000 for services supposedly provided by friend and “chief of staff”, Gareth Arnold.
The claims were rejected by the ISPA due to a lack of evidence of the work having been carried out.
