Jared O'Mara, 41, who represented the constituency of Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019, is on trial for submitting fake invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) to fund a cocaine habit.

O'Mara is accused of making four fraudulent claims to Ipsa between June and August 2019 from a "fictitious" organisation called Confident About Autism South Yorkshire, and submitting two invoices from his friend and "chief of staff" Gareth Arnold for media and PR work that prosecutors say was never carried out.

It is also claimed that O'Mara submitted a false contract of employment for another friend, John Woodliff, "pretending" that he worked as a constituency support officer.

O'Mara is charged with eight counts of fraud by false representation, with Arnold jointly charged with six of the offences, and Woodliff jointly charged with one.

Leeds Crown Court has heard Ipsa - the organisation set up after the expenses scandal to regulate MPs' staffing and business costs - did not pay out any of the claims due to a lack of evidence that any of the work had been carried out.

In his defence closing speech, Mark Kelly KC said O'Mara and Arnold, who submitted the invoices, "clearly don't understand how formal the process is, how rigid the process is".

He asked jurors: "Was (O'Mara) acting dishonestly or is he simply failing to follow proper procedures because of administrative ignorance or incompetence?"

The court has heard that Confident About Autism South Yorkshire referred to Woodliff, with O'Mara telling Arnold that Woodliff provided him with disability support but did not want his personal details on an invoice due to data protection concerns.

"Is it fraud or is it because he has this paranoia about data protection?" Mr Kelly said.

He asked jurors whether O'Mara was "acting honestly" in claiming for work Woodliff and O'Mara had done for him after he had left the Labour party and lost all his staff.

"Do you think he might be able to get help from (Woodliff), that he might think when he comes out of that dark place: 'Do you know what, that guy should be paid for what he did for me, that guy saved my life. I'm going to get the money for that guy.'"

Arnold - the only one of the three defendants to give evidence during the trial - previously told jurors he had "absolutely" done the media and PR work on both invoices that related to him.

The 30-year-old, who has a background in marketing, said O'Mara would "regularly" call him for help after he lost the Labour whip, became an independent MP and later sacked most of his staff "overnight" in around April 2019.

Mr Kelly said: "If (O'Mara) was in that space of isolation and he didn't trust anybody, is it a crazy notion that he turned to a friend with the right skillset?"

He added: "If Mr O'Mara believed that work had been done or services had been provided to him as claimed in these invoices, then the question arises whether he was acting honestly in making the application."

Mr Kelly said O'Mara "might have been running a chaotic ship in terms of his finances, but he wasn't racking up loads of debt".

O'Mara won Sheffield Hallam for Labour from former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg in 2017 but later left the party after a series of controversies.

He stayed in office as an independent MP but did not contest the 2019 general election.

O'Mara, of Walker Close, Sheffield; Arnold, of School Lane, Dronfield, Derbyshire; and Woodliff, of Hesley Road, Shiregreen, Sheffield, deny all charges.

The trial continues.

Jared O'Mara trial: Former Yorkshire MP's expenses claims were 'incompetent' but not dishonest, trial told