For Distribution To CP's ‘THE LEVESON INQUIRY INTO THE CULTURE PRACTICES AND ETHICS OF THE PRESS Part: Module | WITNESS STATEMENT OF GERALD PATRICK McCANN. |, GERALD PATRICK McCANN, clo Collyer Bristow LLP, 4 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4DF, WILL SAY AS FOLLOWS. 1. | ama Consultant Cardiologist working at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. ! am ‘married to Kate McCann, on whose behalf | also make this statement, and the father of three children, 2 Oureldest daughter, Madeleine, has been missing since 3 May 2007. 3. Asa result ofthis our family has bean subject to some of the most sensationalist, Untruthful, irresponsible and damaging reporting. Madeleine 4, do not propose to go into any detail as to the events surrounding Madeleine's disappearance, Needless to say much has been writen about this inlensely private ‘and emotional peried of our ves. 5. | would however like to make clear that'the search for Madeleine continues and we are stil striving for the safe return of Madeleine to our family. May 2007 6. _In May 2007 we were on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal when Madeleine was abducted from our holiday apertment. What was a joyful ime spent with family and loved ones turned into a living nightmare for Kate and myset. gi 7. Jon Comer, a good friand and godparent to the twins, used his media experience to ‘release number of pictures of Madeleine tothe whole of the UK media inthe early hours of the 4” May 2007 to publicise her image. rm nm 1 ™MOD100023391For Distribution To CP's 8 Incidentally the only organisation to contact Jon Corner prior to publication and to ‘seek further details and verification was the BBC. The rest ofthe UK media used the images to publish a story about a missing British child without hesitation. Whilst we ‘make no criticism ofthis, as itis what we wanted, it shows the differing atitudes of various media outlets to theic esponsiblties in situations such as ths, 8 Nothing could have prepared us for the unprecedented media coverage, particularly in Portugal and the UK, which followed. Neither Kate nor | had any experience in dealing with the mainstream media. 10. On4May 2007, the day after Madeleine was abducted; thore was a huge media presence in Praia da Luz. The scale of the media interest may have been amplified by the release of Madeleine's pictures and perhaps by the very rare nature of the crime. Wo were immediatly faced wih a decision as fo whether to interact withthe e media or not. 11, Although | had several reservations we made the decision to interact, feeling that the ‘media could help in the search for Madeleine. | issued an appeal that night. Despite ‘what has happened subsequently, Itis a decision | do notregret as | sill strongly believe that the media can help in the search for a missing child. 412, Itshould be noted that inthe first days following Madeleine's abduction we were sperate to find out es much information as possible and al the same time get the ‘message out that Madeleine was missing and appeal fo help in finding her. We were desperate, a8 we sill ar, that our daughter could be found and we wanted people to hop with that in any way possible. 49. For example we were particularly concemed that those who abducted Madeleine may @ ‘seok to ty and gel her out of Portugal as quickly as possible and given the Spanish border was about 20 minutes away this would have been relatively easy. We therefore wanted to ensure tha the search for Madeleine was intorational and that she could be recognised as widely as possibie. The best way to do this was to ‘engage with the intemational media. 14, During these early days we gave several statements fothe media and initially ‘2ccepled being filmed going about our normal actvity, acknowledging that we were likely tobe filmed whether we consented or nol. We cid however inform the press that we ware not going to provide dally updates. 46. Ourengagement withthe media worked wellto begin with. The vast majonly were sympathetic to what we were going through and understood our objective. What mee a 2 MOD100023392For Distribution To CP's ‘emerged however was a heavy focus of attention on Kate and me (as opposed to Madeleine) and increasingly speculative and irresponsible reporting. We expected this reporting and level of focus to subside, however it was sustained for a period of over 12 months, Portugal 46. The Portuguese criminal system is diferent to that inthe UK. Unlike the UK, in Portugal there is no formal cialogue between the law enforcement agencies and the Pubic including the press; indeed they are prohibited bylaw from having any. This means thatthe Police, the Policia Judiciara PS") would not make any public appeals {or information conceming Madeleine's disappearance or have eny dalogue with the public about any information which the public may have. This wes incredibly ‘frustrating given we came from a county which encourages these sorts of appeals in e créer ensure se investgstng hate a mich norton a posse aval them. The police were therefore not influencing the media direction and coverage. 17, _Thelack of dialogue with the press obviously leaves the system open to ebuse. When ‘elements of the PL wanted information to be known to the public, which was. inevitable in a case with this much attention, they would leak it to sections of the Portuguese media. We strongly believe that individuals Involved in the investigation deliberately fed the media snippets of information that were often out of context, ‘exaggerated or simply untrue, These leaks would then be picked up and reported, and often misreported, by the UK media and internationally. Ths is regardless of the fact that a lotof the information appearing in the Portuguese media was often entirely incorrect andlor misleading. e 48. With regards to the UK press, | believe they had no means of determining what they were reporting was factually correct. It did not deter them, Intensity 49. As Ihave said we were totally unprepared for the intensity of the media focus on Madeleine's disappearance, Our family was suddenly headline news and the Joumalss in Praia da Luz were desperate lo speak wilh us and these whom we know ‘athome in the UK. The day after Madeleine went missing there were literally hundreds of journalists from around the world In Praia da Luz. A number of these Journalists would remain throughout the summer witha ofthe tabloid newspapers and the Daily Telograph having atleast one journalist thereat al ies. eed 3 MOD100023393