Kate McCann was left “visibly upset” after being confronted at home by a woman falsely claiming to be her missing daughter, Madeleine. During the encounter, Kate tearfully pleaded, “You are causing us a lot of distress. Stop it,” while the woman’s supporter stood beside her.
Moments later, Gerry McCann arrived and told the woman, Julia Wandelt, “You need help — you are not Madeleine. Please do not hassle us.” Prosecutors said the pair — Wandelt, 24, from Poland, and her supporter, Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff — had stalked the McCanns for nearly three years, causing “serious alarm and distress.”
The court heard the women plotted to collect the McCanns’ DNA by following them to restaurants or taking their rubbish. Wandelt even posted a letter signed “Madeleine,” calling Kate “Mummy” and claiming she was her daughter. Prosecutor Michael Duck KC called it “a cruel act that showed clear awareness of the pain caused.”
Despite police warnings, the women continued their disturbing behavior until their arrests in February. The heartbreaking case has reopened old wounds for the McCanns, who have endured 18 years of agony since Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007. The trial continues.
