Madeleine McCann’s father tells BBC how his family was hounded by press

Madeleine McCann’s father has called for greater scrutiny of the UK media, telling the BBC his family had been subjected to “monstrosity” by some sections of the press.

He said the media had “repeatedly interfered with the investigation” into his daughter’s disappearance in 2007, which he believed had hindered the search for his daughter.

In a rare interview, Gerry McCann told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that he wants the canceled second phase of the Lord Leveson Inquiry, which is examining unlawful actions by the media as well as journalists’ relationships with politicians and the police, to be restarted.

The Duke of Sussex backed him, saying he “stands with everyone harmed by unethical and illegal press interference”.

Madeleine McCann disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal when she was three years old and was never found again.

Prince Harry said in a statement that he “fully supports the implementation of the Leveson Inquiry’s recommendations as necessary reforms to safeguard responsible, free and fair journalism while also protecting the public.”

Mr McCann told the BBC that for months after his daughter’s disappearance his family had “journalists coming to the house, photographers literally slamming their cameras on our car window with our terrified two-year-old twins behind us”.

He told the BBC: “We’re lucky to have survived. We’ve had tremendous support but I can promise you there were times when I felt like I was drowning. And that was primarily the media.”

“That’s what happened and the way things were portrayed, it was where you were suffocated and buried and it felt like there was no way out.”

Mr McCann said more than a year after Labor came to power “press regulation is no longer a priority”.

He and his wife Kate are among more than 30 people who signed the letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging him to reverse the previous Conservative government’s decision in 2018 not to hold the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry.

Other signatories include: Families of Hillsborough victimsand her mother TV presenter Caroline Flack.

The letter, seen by the BBC, requests a meeting with the prime minister and includes the following statements: “We understand that you have recently had the opportunity to meet with News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch.

“We hope you will now meet some British citizens whose lives have been disrupted by illegal practices and abuses involving their company.”

Mr McCann told the Today programme: “It’s quite clear that press barons can meet the prime minister, but the people who suffer from them can’t.”

News Corp’s UK branch, News UK, declined to comment.

Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast the government had “rejected” the second stage of the investigation.

He said the media landscape is “very different” now, with most people getting their news online. But he added: “I recognize that action is required” and said he would meet with Mr McCann.

The first part of the Leveson Inquiry was conducted from 2011 to 2012 in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

Their findings were published in 2012 and led to the establishment of industry-funded press regulator Ipso.

Mr McCann told the BBC that the second phase of the inquiry “almost certainly” did not happen because he believed politicians in the UK were afraid of the press.

He said Labor politicians were determined to implement the recommendations made in the first part of the Leveson Inquiry in the run-up to last year’s general election and he was “extremely disappointed” they had not done so.

“We have been in government for over a year and there has been no change,” he said.

“It is unacceptable to me that Leveson and press regulations are no longer a priority after over a year.”

A DCMS spokesperson told the BBC it was “recognised that incidents of harassment and media intrusion cause serious distress to victims and their families”.

“The Minister for Culture has met with individuals and families who have experienced this attack in the past, and the government is determined to ensure these failures are never repeated,” they said.

Mr McCann added that he and his wife “had dinner with the Devil” by working with the Sun in 2011 to review the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance; This shows the influence of the newspaper.

“There was a letter published on the front page in The Sun and [then-prime minister] “David Cameron ordered the review,” he said.

“That was the power they had. So we put our morals aside and worked with them to get what we wanted.”

Criticizing media coverage of the investigation, he said: “Published material which should have been confidential, should be passed on to the police, witness statements, many other things that have gone out.

“So if you were the perpetrator, you knew way more than you should have known, and as a victim, as a parent, that’s absolutely horrifying.”

Mr McCann gave evidence on behalf of himself and his wife at the Leveson Inquiry in November 2011.

In the piece, he described news organizations “making up stories” about them, as well as “a persistent, false and malicious series of headlines in a number of newspapers giving the impression that we were somehow responsible for or involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.”

He also said that around the time of his daughters’ disappearance, the now-defunct News of the World newspaper published the full text of Kate McCann’s personal diary.

The diary was seized by Portuguese police as part of their investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, and the couple “were not sure how this happened.” [News of the World] a copy was obtained,” the inquest heard.

In an interview with the Today programme, Mr McCann said: “Madeleine has been missing for 18 years and as a result we still don’t know what happened to her.”

He added that “there is no evidence whatsoever.”

“Not to mention ‘convincing’ evidence; there is no evidence to say he is dead,” he said.

“We now fully understand that he may have died, it may even be possible, but we don’t know that.”

A spokesman for press regulator Ipso told the BBC it could intervene directly in cases of press harassment.

“We encourage anyone with concerns about media behavior to contact us for assistance,” he said.