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”.
After Monday bought revelations that Jared O’Mara filed £30,000 in fraudulent coke-fuelled expenses, the disgraced ex-Labour MP yesterday faced his second day in court. Those who have followed Jared’s parliamentary career won’t be surprised to hear that he didn’t actually turn up – he appeared via video link.
The court heard Georgia Wilson as its first witness, the director of MP services for IPSA. Wilson first became aware of O’Mara in July 2019, when a £3,000 expenses claim had to be filed with the police – after this she made sure O’Mara’s claims received more intense scrutiny. Wilson took up some of his discrepancies, and failure to file expenses on time, with the ex-MP, who cited staffing issues. He also blamed a “torn bicep”.
Wilson then discussed the invoices from Confident About Autism SY – an organisation that doesn’t actually exist. She described “amateurish” counterfeits, with differing fonts, formats and issues with serial numbers. After O’Mara had announced his resignation, he then asked Wilson to reimburse him for his filed expenses – he claimed his police investigation was over. It wasn’t.
Wilson went on to paint the picture of an office in disarray. She describes “growing dysfunction” as O’Mara was haemorrhaging staff, and that any interactions with IPSA were on an ad hoc basis. As O’Mara reported himself sick to the Commons, she says the MP was “garbled” and “self-contradictory”, adding it was clear there were issues around his mental state. The trial continues.
Sheffield Hallam’s favourite scandal-ridden ex-MP is back with a bang, as Jared O’Mara’s trial entered its first day. The disgraced MP is facing seven counts of expenses fraud, which totalled £28,000, and is appearing alongside his mate and former staffer Gareth Arnold. They have previously pleaded not guilty to all charges. Popcorn at the ready…
Over the course of the day, the court was enlightened with the details of O’Mara’s expenses exuberance. Some of which were expenses claims of over £20,000 made to the IPSA for “Confident About Autism FY”– an autism support charity. The issue is that the organisation doesn’t exist.
The prosecution argued that Jared “will likely seek to blame IPSA, Parliament and his autism” for his discrepancies – we’ve heard that one before. They add that these defences are obviously false. To add insult to taxpayers’ injury, the court also heard of the reasoning behind Jared’s over mighty expense claims. “Extensive cocaine habits” are hard to sustain.
The CPS has announced that Jared O’Mara has been charged with seven counts of fraud by false representation. The South Yorkshire Police released a statement this afternoon saying both O’Mara and his former chief of staff, Gareth Arnold, had been summonsed to court in connection to a series of alleged fraud offences. The charge relates to a number of “allegedly fraudulent expenses claims” submitted to IPSA between October 2018 and February 2020…
While O’Mara’s charges sum to seven counts of fraud, his former chief of staff is charged with six. Jared is also charged jointly with John Woodliff for “an offence of entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition of criminal property”. All three will appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on 24th September. Popcorn…
The LibDem Sheffield Hallam branch hasn’t had a great time over the last decade: from having Nick Clegg as their candidate in 2015; to having Nick Clegg lose as their candidate in 2017 to Jared O’Mara of all people; to losing again to Labour in 2019 despite O’Mara’s legacy. It now seems their current candidate, Laura Gordon, is playing more out of the Jared ‘insensitivity’ playbook than they may have hoped.
In the local campaigning WhatsApp group, Laura Gordon was furious to discover their campaigning session had been cancelled last minute due to Eid. Laura spat back “If you couldn’t come why suggest it? I’d rearranged plans so I could come!”
It was explained to Clegg’s successor that Eid is “based on moon sightings” and while it had been predicted it would fall on Thursday, it had been “split this time. I hope you understand”. Laura did not understand…
It was at this point fellow LibDems piled in to call out Laura’s insensitivity. Tariq reiterated that “Eid is never just as simple a set date. I think we need to be mindful that some members are celebrating Eid”, apologising for anyone in the group who’d been offended by Laura’s outburst. Another suggested Laura could do with some religious sensitivity training:
Laura eventually apologised for “if it came across as not thinking people should be celebrating”, though in general “if you make plans with someone it is polite to let them know as soon as possible if you can’t make it”. She has since reiterated her apology to Guido for “any offence caused” and says she “will be more than happy to keep learning about” Eid…
The Labour Party has come down hard on England cricketer Ollie Robinson, fully backing the ECB’s decision to suspend the bowler over his historically racist and sexist tweets. Labour MP and Shadow Culture secretary Jo Stevens said:
“It is right that the ECB takes the action that they think is necessary and appropriate to tackle racism and other forms of discrimination in their sport.”
Guido wonders why Labour’s zero tolerance policy towards racism does not extend to its own MPs. The hypocrisy is palpable…
The following is a list of Labour MPs and some of their “historic”, offensive social media posts. Guido thinks it’s time to remind the Labour Party of its own dirty laundry and wonders whether Jo Stevens will be as quick to condemn and suspend her Labour colleagues…
- Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool, West Derby faced no consequences for several tweets that even he admitted were “unacceptable”. In 2015 Byrne tweeted about businesswoman Michelle Mone, telling his followers to “hit the cu*t where it hurts”. Byrne fell into disrepute again in 2019 after posting that “Everton wives are getting the suitcases out of the loft” – a thinly veiled reference to wife-beating. Guido wonders why Byrne’s sexist tweets are seen as acceptable by the Labour Party whilst Robinson’s are not…
- Just this morning Guido revealed that Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion Naz Shah, was filmed speaking at a Pro-Palestine rally in Bradford, where chants of “lift the curse of the Jews off the Muslims in Palestine!”, were shouted by protestors, in Arabic. This isn’t the first time this Labour MP has fallen into hot water. In 2015 she wrote that Israeli’s should face “transportation” out of the Middle East and suggested that Israel should be “relocated” to America. The Labour Party reinstated Naz after a brief suspension period. Guido wonders whether Naz will forgive Ollie Robinson, like she was so kindly forgiven by the Labour Party…
- Zarah Sultana received a slap on the wrist after it was revealed she told a pro-Israel tweeter to “jump off a cliff”, claimed she would “celebrate” the death of Netanyahu, Bush, and Blair, and compared the Holocaust to what she termed the “Muslim Holocaust” in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine. Following a huge storm Sultana apologised, writing: “I’m a sorry that I posted these offensive comments on social media as a teenager. I was young and immature.” Sound familiar?
- Angela Rayner was quick to defend, Labour MP Jared O’Mara, who called gay men “poofters”, arguing that he had “changed his views”. Funny that Labour MP Jared O’Mara is allowed to change his views but Ollie Robinson, English cricketer is not…
- Sir Keir Starmer not only forgave but defended Dr. Paul Williams, the Labour Hartlepool by-election candidate, after he asked his followers if they had a “favourite Tory MILF” in 2011. Though Keir conceded the comments were “wrong” he continued to support Paul Williams. Smells like hypocrisy…
- Labour’s Steve Reed received no punishment after describing a Jewish Tory donor as a “puppet master”. Like Ollie Robinson, Reed apologised “unreservedly” for the tweet. Guido wonders why Robinson’s apology isn’t enough, when Keir was prepared to forgive one of his own so quickly…
It is striking just how many Labour MPs have made offensive comments online and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Labour is very forgiving of their own, less so of teenage cricketers…
