Madeleine McCann's Parent Urges Tougher Press Regulation Amid Recollections of Press "Monstering".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has urged for more robust scrutiny of the UK media, describing how being "monstered" by the press made him feel like he was being "suffocated and buried".

The McCanns Tormented by Media Intrusion

Gerry McCann stated that his family was deeply affected by press "excesses" and that the media had "consistently hampered" the search for answers regarding his daughter's going missing in 2007.

He stated that the media attention exacted a "heavy burden" on his family. "We endured constant scrutiny and misleading headlines for many months that forced us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We were fortunate. We survived. We had incredible backing. But I can promise you, there were times where I felt like I was being suffocated, and it was the media, primarily, not the situation we were in," he stated.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

The McCanns are among dozens of individuals who have endorsed a letter calling on the government to revive the second part of the Leveson investigation, which was due to examine the dynamic between the media and the police.

He expressed that it was unacceptable that over a year later, press regulation was "no longer a priority". He described how his family had been subjected to "relentless targeting" by parts of the media and that the press was "camped" outside his home for an extended period after Madeleine went missing.

Recounting the Intrusion

Recalling the harassment, he said: "Media at our doorstep, photographers literally ramming their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were scared, and how traumatic that is for you as a parent."

"It's the inaccuracies. It's the invention of stories to drive a headline, rather than the truth, which destroys people's lives," he added.

A Demand for Tougher Regulation and Redress

He argued this behavior highlighted why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and alleged events," he described.

"That almost pulls you under, and you can see how people succumb to it and think they can't get out of it. The impact is devastating, and we need that protection. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of the major publishers, there is little accountability," he concluded.

Government Response and Changing Media Landscape

A government minister said that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been rejected and that the news environment was now very different.

"We share the view that the context has evolved dramatically from the time the Leveson's second phase was recommended: the public is now more likely to get their news from the internet, which has thrown up new and different challenges," they stated.

They added that weighing the rights of victims with the need for a free press was a "complex balance to get right," but conceded that "steps must be taken in this area".

An Enduring Search for Closure

The child went missing from a family vacation apartment in 2007 when she was three years old. It was stated that it was "profoundly disappointing" how the press had consistently meddled with the investigation.

"Leaked information which should have been confidential... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew far more than you should have done," he explained.

Speaking about hope, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "faint yet persistent". "I'd love to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and bring whoever's responsible, and other children are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he stated.