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| Rupert Murdoch criticises police inquiry | Rupert Murdoch criticises police inquiry |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Rupert Murdoch has rowed back from claims that the inquiry into corruption is "totally incompetent" but says the police response is "disproportionate". | Rupert Murdoch has rowed back from claims that the inquiry into corruption is "totally incompetent" but says the police response is "disproportionate". |
| In letters to two MPs, the News Corp boss backed away from "overly-emotional comments" made in a secretly-recorded meeting broadcast on Channel 4 News. | |
| But while he now says he does not "doubt the police's professionalism", he says the inquiry has taken too long. | But while he now says he does not "doubt the police's professionalism", he says the inquiry has taken too long. |
| He wrote after MPs demanded he explain comments made at a Sun staff meeting. | |
| A recording of the meeting held in March was obtained by the Exaro website and aired on Channel 4 News. earlier this month. | |
| In it, Mr Murdoch complained about "totally incompetent" police officers and said Operation Elveden was "the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing". | |
| In a letter sent on Wednesday night to John Whittingdale, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee Mr Murdoch said: "Even without a reliable transcript before me, I am sure I made overly emotional comments about the MPs at the March meeting." | |
| Mr Murdoch gave evidence to the committee in 2011 when he was questioned about phone-hacking allegations. | |
| Mr Murdoch added: "I do not doubt the police's professionalism but, from my layman's perspective, the police approach to these matters since I met with you has in some respects appeared to be disproportionate." | |
| And in a letter to chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz, Mr Murdoch wrote: "I accept that I used the wrong adjectives to voice my frustration over the course of the police investigation." | |
| He added: "I am in no position to judge the competence of the investigation and should never have done so. | |
| "My own lay view is that it has been more than thorough, indeed it has in some respects appeared to be excessive." | |
| The letters claim that News Corp has handed over more than 150,000 documents to the Metropolitan Police, devoting more than 185,000 man hours to the work. | |
| Allegations of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World thrust the newspaper's owners, News Corp, and its journalists directly into the spotlight. | |
| A separate Scotland Yard investigation, named Operation Elveden, is looking into claims of inappropriate payments made to police and other public officials by journalists. |