Leveson Live - Right Now!

The UK police were right not to "put the record straight" over false reports claiming Gerry and Kate McCann were implicated in their daughter's disappearance, the Leveson inquiry has heard.

Matthew Baggott, the former chief constable of Leicestershire police, told the inquiry on Wednesday he could not have released information about DNA tests conducted in the UK to counter leaks by the Portuguese police that falsely claimed they showed the McCanns had hidden Madeleine in the boot of a hire car in Portugal.

Baggott said there were both legal and professional reasons for this. Portuguese secrecy laws made it "utterly wrong to have somehow, in an off-the-record way, have breached what was a very clear legal requirement upon the Portuguese themselves", he told Lord Justice Leveson.

He also said the Leicestershire force's priority was to maintain a positive relationship with the Portuguese police, with a view to "eventually ... resolving what happened to that poor child".

Last November the Leveson inquiry heard how the Daily Express reported there was DNA evidence that could show the little girl's body had been stored in the spare tyre well of a hire car.

It turned out the analysis conducted in the UK was "inconclusive" and there was no foundation for making that allegation. Express Newspapers paid £550,000 damages to the McCann's in 2008 for inaccurate reporting by the Daily Express and the publisher's three other titles.

Leveson asked Baggot about evidence submitted by a Daily Star crime reporter two weeks ago that the Leicestershire police "knew perfectly well that the results didn't demonstrate that", and could have given off-the-record briefings to British journalists not to report a DNA link.

"Even with the benefit of hindsight, sir, I'm still convinced we did the right thing and I think integrity and confidence, particularly with the Portuguese, featured very highly in our decision-making at that time," said Baggott.

He added: "So the relationship of trust and confidence would have been undermined if we had gone off the record in some way or tried to put the record straight, contrary to the way in which the Portuguese law was configured and their own leadership of that."

When they appeared before Leveson late last year, Gerry and Kate McCann told how they were left distraught by false claims in the UK press that they were responsible for their daughter's disappearance or her death.

Leveson later accused the Daily Express of writing "complete piffle" and "tittle tattle" about Madeleine McCann.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/28/leveson-madeleine-mccann-dna-police

matthew wrote:

Last November the Leveson inquiry heard how the Daily Express reported there was DNA evidence that could show the little girl's body had been stored in the spare tyre well of a hire car.

It turned out the analysis conducted in the UK was "inconclusive" and there was no foundation for making that allegation. Express Newspapers paid £550,000 damages to the McCann's in 2008 for inaccurate reporting by the Daily Express and the publisher's three other titles.

Yet they haven't gone after Brunty for actually saying it on Sky TV. Why not?

The former chief constable of Leicestershire police, now chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland, today said that "speculation" in the UK press did "hinder" the inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The inquiry was told that the Leicestershire force, covering the McCann's local area, was "asked to co-ordinate the UK response to assist the Portuguese enquiry".

In evidence to the Leveson inquiry chief constable Matt Baggott told the court the force received complaints about press behaviour "around disruption to daily life caused by a large media presence".

Baggott said he wrote two letters to "all the prominent editors" calling for "restraint in reporting on the case".

In the letters he wrote he had "been surprised at the reporting of some alleged facts" and was "deeply concerned at the implications".

He added that the reaction was "not hugely positive" given that "speculation continued".

Baggott also told the inquiry "there could have been a greater authority to explain the boundaries of what that press reporting should have been".

"The difficulty was it involved a European dimension as well as a national one. But there could be stronger guidelines and consequences."

He added that the speculation occurring in areas of the press "certainly hindered the inquiries to find and trace Madeleine simply because of the reaction that came from the media speculation".

Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry last year the parents of Madeleine McCann said they were "tried by the media" in the wake of her disappearance.

They also spoke about a "tremendous amount of speculation", with coverage becoming often "exaggerated" and other reports being "simply made up" and "inaccurate, untruthful and incredibly damaging".

Asked what lessons could be learnt from the McCann case, Baggott today said while the inquiry is ongoing "the lesson to be learnt is probably a greater understanding of the complexity and consequences of speculation and loose reporting of facts".

"That is a serious issue for the press to consider", he added.

"I don't think some of this speculation was necessary ...it certainly wasn't practical and it certainly wasn't proportionate.

"... A greater understanding of consequence would have been appropriate."

Speaking more generally about police officers disclosing information he said there is a need for a "balance" to be found "between giving local colleagues the ability to storytell with the right ethical guidance and support, which is entirely appropriate, while making sure the very real issues of the inappropriate use of information, whether that's for personal gain or through gossip still remains under tight control".

"Our relationships with the media probably need to be reasserted based on what the man or woman on the street would think."

He added: "It should be amicable and it should be very friendly, but it should always professional and for a purpose."

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/leveson-inquiry-speculation-in-madeleine-mccann-case-hindered-inquiry/s2/a548569/

They also spoke about a "tremendous amount of speculation", with coverage becoming often "exaggerated" and other reports being "simply made up" and "inaccurate, untruthful and incredibly damaging".

Jemmied shutters?

or an "offered deal"