Former Sheffield MP Jared O'Mara and aide facing expenses fraud charges

Jared O'Mara, the former MP for Sheffield Hallam, has today (August 19) been summonsed along with his former chief of staff, Gareth Arnold.

South Yorkshire Police say the pair have been summonsed to attend Sheffield Magistrates' Court on September 24 in connection with offences relating to a number of allegedly fraudulent expenses claims that were submitted to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

O'Mara, aged 39, of Walker Close, Sheffield, faces seven counts of fraud and one count of entering into an arrangement which facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by another, contrary to section 328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Arnold, 28, of Hunter House Road, Sheffield, faces six counts of fraud.

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A third man, John Woodliff, 42, of Dunninc Terrace, Sheffield, faces one count of entering into an arrangement which facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by another, contrary to section 328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The offences are alleged to have occurred in periods between October 2018 and February 2020.

Jared O’Mara became MP for Sheffield Hallam at the general election of June 2017 but was later suspended from the Labour Party. He stood as an independent in July 2018 and left the Commons in 2019 when the next election was called.

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