A UK media inquiry has been told of a tabloid newspaper's obsession with Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

The inquiry heard that the former editor of the Daily Express routinely ran stories about the young girl on the front page, to try to boost sales.

Three journalists who filed stories about Madeleine also told the hearing, they knew their reports relied on hearsay.. but left it to the editors to assess whether to run them. From August to November 2007, at least one hundred Daily Express covers featured the McCann's.