A national newspaper editor has claimed harm caused by defamatory articles published in his paper could have been prevented if the Press Complaints Commission had stepped in.

Hugh Whittow, editor of the Daily Express, told the Leveson Inquiry press coverage of the McCanns was allowed to "go on and on". He added: “I feel perhaps they should have intervened...everybody had too much leeway".

Whittow said it was one reason behind Northern & Shell’s decision to pull out of the PCC in January 2011. The publishers stopped paying into the commission's fund a month before Hugh Whittow took over as editor.

Robert Jay, counsel to the inquiry, appeared surprised when asking Whittow whether he believed the PCC had let down the Express. He added: "Have you got some better reasons for leaving the PCC?"

Whittow replied: "I don't blame the PCC, I just think in hindsight they might have been able to intervene and perhaps this will reflect in the body that you set up".

Express Newspapers was ordered to pay £550,000 to the McCanns in 2008 after articles were published by group titles, including the Express and the Star, alleging Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for the death of daughter Madeline.

Friends of the McCanns, with the family when Madeline went missing, received a £375,000 libel payout from the group later that year.

Dawn Neesom, editor of the Daily Star, who gave evidence before Whittow, told the inquiry that running the story was a "risk" and said: "I regret what happened in the McCann case and all I can do is repeat the apology on page one for the hurt and distress we caused them".