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THE PRESS ASSOCIATION (Katie Dickinson, PA)

A former MP has been jailed for four years for making fraudulent expenses claims to fund an "extensive" cocaine habit while in office.

Jared O'Mara was convicted of six counts of fraud after trying to claim about 52,000 of taxpayers' money for work that was never done and jobs that did not exist.

O'Mara, 41, who represented the constituency of Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, went on trial for submitting fake invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) between June and August 2019.

Leeds Crown Court heard O'Mara made four claims for a total of 19,400 from a "fictitious" organisation called Confident About Autism South Yorkshire.

A jury found he also submitted a false contract of employment for his friend John Woodliff, pretending he worked as a constituency support officer.

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...

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