Leveson Inquiry To Hear From Kate And Gerry McCann And Phone Hacking Lawyer Mark Lewis

Kate And Gerry McCann To Give Evidence At Phone Hacking Inquiry
|

The Leveson inquiry into press ethics is due to hear from the parents of missing Madeleine McCann on Wednesday afternoon.

Gerry McCann is expected to give evidence in the same way as previous witnesses while his wife Kate is expected to read a statement.

The McCanns have previously spoken about intrusion by the media after their four-year-old daughter went missing while on holiday in Portugal in 2007.

The inquiry opened today with evidence from Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has been at the forefront of the campaign to get justice for the victims of phone hacking.

As well as acting on the behalf of victims of hacking, it was recently revealed that journalists from the now defunct News of the World trailed him in order to dig up stories on him that would undermine his campaign against the tabloid.

Sheryl Gascoigne, the ex-wife of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, and former Daily Telegraph journalist Tom Rowland who learned his phone had been hacked, will also appear on Wednesday.

Yesterday the inquiry heard from comedian Steve Coogan, who attacked the behaviour of the tabloid press and called for the introduction of a privacy law.

He said: "There needs to be a privacy law so genuinely investigative journalism isn't besmirched by tawdry muckraking."

Also on Tuesday Elle Macpherson's former adviser Mary-Ellen Field recounted how she was fired after the supermodel wrongly believed she had leaked stories to the press about her private life.

The stories were later believed to have been obtained by journalists hacking into Macpherson's voicemail.

Leveson also heard from former premier league footballer Garry Flitcroft, who said he believed the Sunday People had hacked his phone in order to obtain stories alleging he had extra-marital affairs.