Jared O’Mara’s court case today entered its fourth day, as the court hear yet more tales of the Ex-Labour MPs exuberance. On Wednesday, the court heard that O’Mara was “non-existent” in office and would often blame injuries, including “slipping in the shower”, for his absence – so far nothing new. Leeds Crown Court did hear from a staffer who described a rare meeting with the disgraced MP:

“He did turn up, about an hour late… He appeared to be on some sort of substance, he was gurning, clenching his teeth, sweating and talking at a million miles an hour.”

During the meeting, O’Mara outlined plans to upload speeches and comedy routines to a paid online subscription service – “he fancied himself as a bit of a comedian”. One team member introduced a healthy dose of skepticism into the discussion and questioned the suggestion. O’Mara threatened to sack him.

As the case continued into Thursday, the jury was regaled with some of text messages sent by Gareth Arnold, one of Jared’s co-defendants. The prosecution said the messages included references to money-making schemes, bending the rules, demanding money from IPSA, deleting records and abandoning claims for payment. All in a day’s work…

Amongst the messages was a confession that Jared was “a few k in debt with a dealer” and in June 2019 Arnold bragged that he “just smashed loads of coke” with the local MP. Other messages suggest some more fraught relations between the pair:

“You got sh*tfaced before a Look North TV interview and then harassed a female member of staff.”

“It’s you who does cocaine instead of going to Parliament.”

Arnold also told O’Mara that he had seen his mental state deteriorate into “something very strange”, as a call played to the court claimed Jared “started to entertain the idea that some sort of shadowy government cabal is trying to bring him down”.  This is less surprising when contextualised appropriately. The court also heard his coke use amounted to “anything up to five grams a day”.