Gerry McCann: We Were Scared By Media

The father of Madeleine McCann has begun speaking about the night the youngster vanished and the family's desperate search for her the next morning.

He said he and his distraught wife Kate went out at first light in the hope of finding their missing daughter.

Mr McCann is speaking now at the Edinburgh International Television Festival about the role the media has played in the hunt for the four-year-old.

He recalled going back to the family's apartment in the Portugese resort of Praia da Luz after a day of inteeviews with the police.

He was astonished to find around 150 journalists waiting for him. He admitted being scared by them.

It is now 114 days since Madeleine vanished from her bed as her parents were having dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant.

Mr McCann is speaking to journalist Kirsty Wark for the festival's Richard Dunn interview.

He is expected to talk about how he and his wife Kate and other people in similar situations have used the power of the media to their advantage.

The search for Madeleine has captured the public imagination in Britain, Portugal and beyond since she went missing on May 3.

For much of the summer the small seaside village of Praia da Luz has been packed with TV crews, photographers and reporters closely scrutinising the McCanns' every move.

In the absence of any clear developments, there has been some fevered speculation about the young girl's fate.

Mr McCann has attacked a series of police leaks, saying he was disappointed so much information had made its way into the public domain despite Portugal's strict "secrecy of justice" laws.

In recent weeks the McCanns have been forced to defend themselves after Portuguese newspapers claimed the couple could now be suspects in their daughter's disappearance.

Reacting to these "incredibly hurtful and incredibly untrue" allegations, Mr McCann told the Daily Telegraph: "It is extraordinary. It's incredible. But we will come through it.

"We know our facts, we know what we did. It does not bear any resemblance to this wild speculation. My opinion of what has happened has not changed in 16 weeks."