A MAN has been questioned by police over an allegation he perverted the course of justice.

The Lancashire Telegraph understands the man questioned is a solicitor and the allegation relates to the acceptance of evidence connected to a so-called Post Office robbery in Rishton in 2015.

The man was invited in for a voluntary interview and has not been arrested.

A police spokesperson said: “A 47-year-old man from Manchester has been assisting us with our enquiries in an investigation into perverting the course of justice, linked to the robbery of a post office in Rishton in June 2015.

“The investigation remains on-going and no arrests have been made at this stage.”

Earlier this year four men were jailed for a total of 126 months in relation to the ‘fake’ robbery at Rishton Post Office where they pretended to brandish a gun and tied up the temporary postmaster before fleeing with £185,000.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Mohammed Faiyza Iqbal, 33, claimed he had been overcome by two men, dressed in white CSI-style boiler suits, and subdued with chloroform, as part of the ‘raid’.

But a “sophisticated and elaborate” plot to escape with bags of cash, postal orders and stamps from the High Street branch started to unravel after one of the robbers, Jason Yarwood, left a glove behind in a nearby yard, the court was told.

Prosecutors said police were already suspicious after Iqbal, while being treated at hospital, had refused to let officers examine his mobile phone, to verify timings concerning the robbery.

Yarwood made a series of confessions when arrested and questioned about the June 2015 incident, implicating his brother Terry, 36, and Iqbal, the court heard. Detectives also detained their alleged getaway driver, Avaiz Samad, 23.

Mobile phone contact between Terry Yarwood, and Iqbal and Samad, was frequent in the time leading up to the robbery and Iqbal had been conducting internet searches on where to obtain chloroform.

The post worker had also ordered in an extra £95,000, for the ATM machine, which had been left out for the ‘intruders’ in pouches.

Terry Yarwood and Iqbal from the Ashton-on-Ribble area of Preston, were each jailed for 28 months after admitting to conspiracy to steal. Jason Yarwood, also of Ashton, who went on the run for one month, was jailed for 34 months.

Samad, also of Ashton, who denied taking part in the conspiracy, was convicted after a trial and jailed for three years