proportionality of the investigations which will cost £40m by 2015 and have seen dawn raids involving up to 14 officers and the arrest of scores of his journalists.
The letter is the first time that Murdoch has spoken about what he labelled a "highly emotional" meeting in March with journalists at the Sunwho have been arrested and face trial for allegedly paying public officials for information – a meeting that was secretly recorded and subsequently leaked.
In his letter, which has been published by Vaz, Murdoch said: "I accept that I used the wrong adjectives to voice my frustration over the course of the police investigation. But I have been hearing for months about pre-dawn raids undertaken by as many as 14 police officers and that some employees and their families were left in limbo for as much as a year and a half between arrest and charging decisions."
He said of the meeting on 14 March, which was requested by his staff: "I was reminded of the impact on families, including suicide attempts and medical conditions arising from the significant stress."
Tape recordings of the secretly-recorded meeting were subsequently broadcast on the Exaro website. Speaking to staff on the tabloid, Murdoch said: "Still, I mean, it's a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent. So, I'll just ask you a question, I don't want to interrupt you, are you happy with the lawyers that have been provided?"
But there was a clear limit to his apology in the letter to Vaz: "I have no basis to question the competence of the police … but I do question whether over the last two years the police have approached these matters with an appropriate sense of proportion with regard for the human cost of delay.
"Whilst I regret my choice of words in that highly emotional meeting, I care deeply about our employees and I was and am troubled by the effect of these events on them."
Assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Cressida Dick, revealed at the same committee last we
