Media boss Rupert Murdoch said British police had blown an investigation into illegal phone-hacking by his newspapers out of proportion, in secret recordings released late Wednesday.

News Corporation chief Murdoch was forced to close the News of the World newspaper in 2011, after revelations that journalists had hacked the phones of royals, politicians, celebrities and crime victims prompted public anger.

A public inquiry was launched into the affair and several journalists and editors who worked for News of the World and another Murdoch tabloid, The Sun, have been charged with offences relating to phone-hacking and bribery of public officials.

In the recording, obtained by investigative website Exaro and broadcast on Channel 4, Murdoch described police as “totally incompetent”. It was made during a meeting with Sun journalists in March.

“The idea that the cops then started coming after you, kick you out of bed, and your families, at six in the morning, is unbelievable,” he said. “But why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing.” “I will do everything in my power to give you total support, even if you’re convicted and get six months or whatever,” he told the journalists in the 45-minute-long recording.

He also appeared to regret the level of cooperation his companies had offered to police.

“It was a mistake, I think,” he said. “But, in that atmosphere, at that time, we said, ‘Look, we are an open book, we will show you everything.’ And the lawyers just got rich going through millions of e-mails.” A News Corp spokesman defended Murdoch, saying he had “shown understandable empathy with the staff and families affected and will assume they are innocent until and unless proven guilty.” “No other company has done as much to identify what went wrong, compensate the victims, and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again,” he told Channel 4.

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