A former Labour MP has denied making fraudulent expense invoices worth a total of £28,700.
Jared O’Mara, 39, appeared at Sheffield Magistrates Court via videolink, alongside his former aide Gareth Arnold, 28, and another man, John Woodliff, 42, who appeared in person.
He left the Labour Party in 2018 and continued to sit as an independent but was reportedly referred to police over his expenses in July 2019 and was arrested alongside Arnold a few weeks later.
The former Sheffield Hallam MP did not contest the 2019 general election and is believed to have left politics.
He denied seven counts of fraud and another charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Some of the charges relate to ‘services purported to have been provided by Gareth Arnold’, and others refer to ‘services purported to have been provided by Confident About Autism South Yorkshire’.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between October 2018 and February 2020.
Arnold, who is from Dronfield in Derbyshire, denied six counts of fraud by false representation, while Woodliff, of Hesley Road, Sheffield, denied one charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The three defendants were granted unconditional bail and will next appear at Sheffield Crown Court on October 25.
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