SOUTH Wales East Senedd member Laura Anne Jones has been cleared by police of any wrongdoing after she faced allegations of falsifying mileage for her expenses claims.

The Welsh Conservative member, who lives in Wyesham, Monmouth, faced a probe after the Senedd standards commissioner Douglas Bain referred a complaint to the force earlier this year.

South Wales Police said it had finished its inquiries into Laura Anne Jones with "no evidence of fraudulent activity" uncovered.

She lost her shadow cabinet position as Culture spokesperson in June after WhatsApp messages appeared to show a member of staff being asked: “When doing petrol thing – always make more than I did – add in stuff please ok.”

She had denied making false mileage claims and through a lawyer said she was “satisfied that any allegations in relation to impropriety surrounding expenses are entirely misconceived.”

The published WhatsApp texts show a member of staff being messaged in response to a query about an expenses claim: "If you could always do more than it says, that’d be fab, thanks", followed by a thumbs up emoji.

BBC Wales who broke the story said at the time it couldn't confirm the full context of the interchanges.

Now that police have dropped their inquiry she said that the past few months had been "far from ideal but I have been given strength by the fact of my innocence and from the volume of support that I have received".

She added: "I have not let it distract me and I look forward to continuing to serve my constituents to the best of my ability and holding the Welsh Labour government to account."

The police force confirmed that: "No evidence of fraudulent activity has been found and the investigation is now closed. All relevant parties have been updated."

It is understood the investigation has now been handed back to the Standards Commissioner to continue his probe which he had paused while the police investigation was ongoing.

The Standards Commissioner is an independent person appointed by the Welsh Parliament to investigate complaints about the conduct of Members of the Senedd.

The process is highly confidential with no details made public until the Commissioner has reached a conclusion.