Journalist at the Daily Express. Pilditch covered the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal in 2007. His evidence at the Inquiry criticised Portuguese privacy laws, which forbade anyone talking to the media, leading, said Pilditch, to a “fatally flawed investigation”. Pilditch said journalists were under pressure to find new information. The McCanns received £500,000 compensation from the Daily Express over libellous coverage of the story.