{"id":46539,"date":"2023-02-09T13:01:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T13:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/?p=46539"},"modified":"2023-02-09T13:01:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T13:01:20","slug":"breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING &#8211; Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"46529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/02\/unnamed.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46529\" \/><figcaption>Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"46528\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/02\/unnamed-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46528\" \/><figcaption> Gareth Arnold former Chief of Staff <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A former Sheffield MP who faked expenses claims in a failed bid to fund his extensive cocaine habit has been jailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jared O\u2019Mara, 41, the former Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, and his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold were sentenced today following a trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Leeds Crown Court, O\u2019Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield, was found guilty of six counts of fraud. O&#8217;Mara has been jailed for four years. He will serve half of that sentence in custody before being released on licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Mara and Arnold were found guilty of their roles in trying to fraudulently claim taxpayers\u2019 money for work that was never carried out and occupations that didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Mara, who has autism, invented an organisation called \u2018Confident About Autism SY\u2019 along with Arnold to produce fake invoices that he tried to slip through, seeking to hide behind the fact it was related to his disability if ever challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arnold, of School Lane, Dronfield, has been handed a 15-month sentence suspended for two years after being found guilty of three counts of fraud, and cleared of three further counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017 O&#8217;Mara defeated former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg, winning a majority seat in Sheffield Hallam for Labour, but later left the party due to a chain of altercations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Mara and Arnold\u2019s crimes unfolded in 2019 when O\u2019Mara, 41, was still working as an independent MP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During yesterday&#8217;s trial, the court heard dishonest claims were made to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which regulates MPs\u2019 business costs and expenses. Due to IPSA\u2019s concerns, none of the claims were ever paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IPSA Chief Executive Ian Todd said: \u201cWe note today\u2019s verdicts and want to thank the IPSA staff whose diligence meant that the irregularities were spotted and no money was ever paid in connection to the invoice submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince 2010, the vast majority of Members of Parliament have followed IPSA\u2019s rules, and the public should be assured that MP\u2019s business costs are regulated independently and carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arnold, 30, was a long-standing friend of O\u2019Mara and had been introduced to a member of the team in his constituency office as a volunteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Claims were also submitted for the fictitious organisation \u2018Confident About Autism SY\u2019, with invoices which looked different every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The total value of the fraud was almost \u00a352,610. The convictions follow an extensive South Yorkshire Police investigation which included significant analysis of digital devices and financial records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Sheffield MP who faked expenses claims in a failed bid to fund his extensive cocaine habit has been jailed. Jared O\u2019Mara, 41, the former Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, and his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold were sentenced today following a trial. At Leeds Crown Court, O\u2019Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":46562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[799,800,801,551,38,802,131],"class_list":["post-46539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story","tag-fraud","tag-hallamshire","tag-jared-omala","tag-parliament","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffieldnews-2","tag-south-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING - Former MP Jared O&#039;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING - Former MP Jared O&#039;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former Sheffield MP who faked expenses claims in a failed bid to fund his extensive cocaine habit has been jailed. Jared O\u2019Mara, 41, the former Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, and his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold were sentenced today following a trial. At Leeds Crown Court, O\u2019Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ShefNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charlie Martin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charlie Martin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Charlie Martin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d\"},\"headline\":\"BREAKING &#8211; Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"fraud\",\"hallamshire\",\"Jared O&#039;Mala\",\"Parliament\",\"Sheffield\",\"Sheffieldnews\",\"South Yorkshire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Top Story - Home Page Lead\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\",\"name\":\"BREAKING - Former MP Jared O'Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING &#8211; Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"ShefNews\",\"description\":\"Bringing you all the news from across Sheffield\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d\",\"name\":\"Charlie Martin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4470c68dd35754ded0de730be206e4dee4c2bb72052c97789b41a55cf43da9c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4470c68dd35754ded0de730be206e4dee4c2bb72052c97789b41a55cf43da9c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charlie Martin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/author\/jod21cm\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING - Former MP Jared O'Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING - Former MP Jared O'Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews","og_description":"A former Sheffield MP who faked expenses claims in a failed bid to fund his extensive cocaine habit has been jailed. Jared O\u2019Mara, 41, the former Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, and his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold were sentenced today following a trial. At Leeds Crown Court, O\u2019Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/","og_site_name":"ShefNews","article_published_time":"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00","author":"Charlie Martin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charlie Martin","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/"},"author":{"name":"Charlie Martin","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d"},"headline":"BREAKING &#8211; Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt","datePublished":"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["fraud","hallamshire","Jared O&#039;Mala","Parliament","Sheffield","Sheffieldnews","South Yorkshire"],"articleSection":["Top Story - Home Page Lead"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/","url":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/","name":"BREAKING - Former MP Jared O'Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt - ShefNews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2023-02-09T13:01:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/breaking-former-mp-jared-omara-jailed-over-50000-cocaine-fuelled-fraud\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING &#8211; Former MP Jared O&#8217;Mara jailed over \u00a350,000 cocaine fuelled fraud attempt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/","name":"ShefNews","description":"Bringing you all the news from across Sheffield","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ad31133e0b5aefe3b9327278a5c17d","name":"Charlie Martin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4470c68dd35754ded0de730be206e4dee4c2bb72052c97789b41a55cf43da9c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4470c68dd35754ded0de730be206e4dee4c2bb72052c97789b41a55cf43da9c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charlie Martin"},"url":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/author\/jod21cm\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}