PRESS ASSOCIATION -- A former top policeman has hit back at the "lynch mob mentality" of MPs who mauled him over his handling of the phone-hacking investigation.
Ex-Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Andy Hayman was accused of being "like Clouseau rather than Columbo" when he appeared before the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.
He was also asked whether he had ever accepted payments from journalists for information or done a deal to curb the News of the World hacking inquiry over fears that the tabloid would expose details of his personal life - all of which he denied strenuously.
Mr Hayman, who was in ultimate charge of the original hacking investigation in 2006, responded by condemning the "appalling display" of the MPs who grilled him and three other former and serving senior Scotland Yard officers.
He said he was treated like a "bit of dirt" and, in particular, criticised Labour MP Chris Bryant, who was sitting in the audience,
for laughing loudly while he gave evidence.
Mr Hayman told Nick Ferrari on London radio station LBC: "I've been through the mill several times in court, in journalistic interviews. I've never been treated like that. There was cat-calling, there was loud laughter from the wings of Chris Bryant. It was an appalling display from them.
"The irony really is that they don't like being treated in this way disproportionately and yet they're prepared to put us through that." The former top police officer said the MPs' level of questioning was below that of a junior detective constable and said it was time for a formal public inquiry into the scandal to be launched.
He said: "Despite trying to actually be helpful to them, all they want to do is score points, and most of that is political and with this sort of lynch mob mentality. Bring on the formal inquiry with a respectable judge, when we can actually get some sense out of this.
"But what we've actually got here is a very, very senior, I guess you could call it a court. It's non-negotiable to be able to go there and when you go along there, you're treated like a bit of dirt. I'm not asking for special treatment, I just ask for a little bit of respect and not to be basically as a product because of the way in which you speak."