LIVERPOOL-born Kate McCann felt “mentally raped” when a newspaper published her private diary, the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards heard.

The hearing was told Britain’s Press was “in the dock” for abuses ranging from phone hacking to hounding celebrities and crime victims.

The mother of Hugh Grant’s child received threats after the actor spoke out against media intrusion, while murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mum Sally experienced “euphoria” when she got through to her missing daughter’s mobile phone voicemail after a private detective working for the News of the World deleted some of the messages.

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry heard that both well-known figures like Harry Potter author JK Rowling and previously unknown members of the public have fallen victim to journalistic malpractice.

David Sherborne, representing 51 alleged victims of press intrusion, described the scale of phone hacking at the News of the World as an “Industrial Revolution” that represented a cultural shift away from old-fashioned journalism.

But he argued there were wider problems with Britain’s newspaper culture. He said: “We are here not just because of the shameful revelations which have come out of the hacking scandal, but also because there has been a serious breakdown of trust.”

The parents of Madeleine McCann, who was three when she vanished on holiday in Portugal in May 2007, were also subjected to “blatant intrusion” by the Press, Mr Sherborne said.

In September 2008, the News of the World published Mrs McCann’s highly personal diary, which she had not even shown to her husband, leaving her feeling “mentally raped”, the inquiry heard.

The inquiry was adjourned until Monday.