It was just absolutely gut wrenching to be reminded of the hell that these two parents had experienced, both sitting today at the inquiry. The loss of their daughter to a want-to-be desperate mother, we hope; or worse, a peadophile ring, is impossible to contemplate.
Today I watched two dignified people, giving evidence for the first time publicly, about how the Press Pack, not only hounded, but completely ransacked the last piece of human dignity they had by accusing them of killing their abducted daughter: "they said we kept her body in our freezer" Mrs Mcann had explained to the hearing.
Who was these journalists, these human beings, who wrote those lies based on no evidence, no public interest, and no empathy? The Red Tops went for their jugular, literally making up stories, selling the public lies about the murder of a child by honing in to our heart felt sympathy, our humanity: Where was theirs?
The Leveson inquiry really hit home today. A poignant example of just how deplorable the British Tabloids have become and Lord Leveson has in his hands the opportunity to remedy this.
There must be put in place, constitutionally, a code of practice, punishable by law, not a further extension of the PCC's ability to shelter its own board of editors from flagrant conduct which brought the industry into disrepute. It is unsettling to think that if the phone hacking scandal had been successfully covered up by those in power, the McCanns treatment by the tabloids would have settled down nicely, forgotten about on the pages of history.
I believe there must be a period of State regulation, where the government can put right, under constitutional law, the savage practices of the Tabloid Press. Without a root and branch reformation of the Press industry, Leveson's examination means nothing, and power will just be returned to those, the unelected.
