They picked on me because of my accent, says 'Clouseau' cop

The senior police officer accused of being "more like Clouseau than Columbo" over the phone hacking scandal accused MPs today of acting like a "lynch mob" - and said he was discriminated against because of his accent.

Former assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, who was in overall charge of the first hacking inquiry, clashed with MPs on the home affairs select committee.

He was grilled about private dinners with News International executives and forced to reject suggestions that he was in the "back pocket" of News International because he wrote a column for The Times. Mr Hayman retired from the Met in 2007 amid allegations of expense claims and improper conduct with two women. He was later cleared of wrongdoing.

On LBC's Nick Ferrari show, he said today he had expected tough questioning from MPs. But he said: "To be accused, as I was, of being a dodgy geezer, which is probably on the basis on my accent - I think that's really a poor show."

He added: "All they want to do is score points and most of that is political and with this sort of lynch-mob mentality. I'm not asking for special treatment, I just ask for a little bit of respect."

Assistant commissioner John Yates, former deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke and former commissioner Ian Blair were also quizzed.