Madeleine McCann's Parent Calls for Stricter Press Regulation Amid Accounts of Press "Hounding".

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

The McCanns Tormented by Press "Abuses"

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 2007 disappearance.

He stated that the intrusion took a "heavy burden" on his family. "We endured ongoing coverage and inaccurate reports for 15 months or more that forced us to take legal action to stop it," he explained.

"We were fortunate. We got through it. We received strong support. Yet, I must tell 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 recounted.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among more than 30 people who have endorsed a letter asking the government to restart the second phase of the Leveson inquiry, which was intended to examine the dynamic between the media and the police.

McCann said 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 "stationed" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Describing the Intrusion

Detailing the events, he said: "Journalists coming to the house, cameras being shoved their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were terrified, and how distressing that is for you as a parent."

"It's the inaccuracies. It's the fabrication of stories to suit a narrative, rather than reality, which destroys people's lives," he added.

A Demand for Stronger Oversight and Accountability

He argued this behavior highlighted why there needed to be tougher press regulation. "We'd be getting ready for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and what supposedly happened," he said.

"That feeling is overwhelming, and you can see how people are broken by it and think they can't get out of it. The impact is devastating, and we need that protection. There has to be redress. And at the minute, for most of these mainstream media, there is no redress," he asserted.

Government Response and Evolving News Environment

A government minister commented that a second phase of the inquiry had been rejected and that the media landscape was now profoundly changed.

"We agree that the landscape has transformed profoundly from the time 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.

They added that balancing the rights of victims with the need for a free press was a "challenging task to get right," but acknowledged that "reform is required in this area".

A Continued Search for Answers

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 when she was three years old. Gerry McCann said that it was "profoundly disappointing" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation.

"Published material which ought to have remained private... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew a lot more than you should have done," he explained.

Speaking about hope, he said the possibility he would find his daughter was "small but still alive". "We hope to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and hold the perpetrator, and others are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he affirmed.