MAFIA methods and Fujitsu’s failings were under the spotlight today as politicians scramble to keep clear from the fallout of the Post Office scandal.

Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw, being examined at the public inquiry into the crisis, denied acting like a “mafia gangster” in his pursuit of wrongly suspected subpostmasters.

He claimed that his interrogation of the unfortunate postmasters was always “professional” and that he and his colleagues were not “looking to collect their bounty with threats and lies,” as had been alleged by victimised postmaster Jacqueline McDonald.