Madeleine McCann's Father Urges Tougher Media Regulation Amid Recollections of Press "Tormenting".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has issued a call for more robust oversight for the UK media, detailing how being "monstered" by the press made him feel that he was being "suffocated and buried".

The McCanns Subjected to Media Intrusion

According to Gerry McCann, his family was deeply affected by press "excesses" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the investigation into his daughter's disappearance in 2007.

He noted that the media attention exacted a "huge toll" on his family. "We had sustained interest and inaccurate reports for over a year that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We are lucky. We got through it. We received tremendous support. But I can promise you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mostly, not the situation we were in," he recounted.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have put their names to a letter calling on the government to reopen the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was set up to look into the relationship between the media and the police.

McCann said it was unacceptable that more than a year on, press regulation was "not being prioritized". He described how his family had been victims of "relentless targeting" by certain the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for an extended period after Madeleine went missing.

Recounting the Intrusion

Recalling the harassment, he said: "Media at our doorstep, photographers pushing their cameras against our car window, when we had two-year-old twins in the back who were terrified, and how upsetting that is for you as a parent."

"It's the half-truths. It's the making up of stories to suit a narrative, rather than the truth, which ruins lives," he stated.

A Demand for Tougher Oversight and Redress

He said the conduct showed why there needed to be stricter press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be front-page headlines about ourselves and alleged events," he described.

"That almost pulls you under, and you can see how people give in to it and think they can't get out of it. It's so damaging, and we need that protection. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of these mainstream media, there is no effective recourse," he concluded.

Government Response and Changing Media Landscape

The Culture Secretary commented that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been discounted and that the media landscape was now very different.

"We share the view that the landscape has transformed profoundly since the second part of Leveson was recommended: people now are more likely to get their news from the internet, which has thrown up new and different challenges," they explained.

It was also noted that weighing the needs of those affected with the need for a free press was a "complex balance to get right," but acknowledged that "action is needed in this area".

A Continued Hope for Closure

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 at the age of three. Her father expressed that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation.

"Confidential details which was meant for police only... This meant a potential culprit, you knew far more than you should have done," he noted.

Regarding the ongoing search, he said the possibility he would find his daughter was "small but still alive". "Our wish is to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and bring whoever's responsible, and people are at risk while whoever is responsible is free," he affirmed.