Woman Accused of Stalking Madeleine McCann's Parents, Court Told

An individual from Poland who claimed to be the missing girl "pursued that myth" and stalked the child's family by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address, a trial was told.

Karen Spragg and the second defendant carried out a "campaign of harassment", Leicester Crown Court heard, and in one defendant's situation, that lasted for two and a half years.

On Monday, jurors were told Ms Wandelt repeatedly claimed she was the missing child and was abducted and taken to the European nation.

Ms Spragg and Ms Wandelt each contest a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry McCann between mid-2022 and early this year.

Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the three years old during a family holiday in Portugal - is among the most widely reported child disappearance incidents and remains unsolved.

The prosecutor also spoke of the global attention that the disappearance had brought on the family.

"Among numerous devastating outcomes for Madeleine's parents has been their constant inability to escape the glare of media attention that came with that incident.

"The focus they have experienced has not always been compassionate, sometimes far from it.

"There remains a number of people who continue to fail to recognize their plight and spread conspiracy theories.

"Regrettably, these two defendants belong to that second category."

Escalating Behavior

Testimony revealed from mid-2022, Ms Wandelt had begun to speak to "any willing listener" that she was the missing child.

Legal authorities said that, in January 2023, the accused was in contact with a organization in Poland established to assist with long-term disappearance incidents and provide assistance and advice to people looking for individuals who had gone missing.

Based on the prosecutor, Ms Wandelt initially said she was missing German girl from Germany.

But after these claims were dismissed by the charity, the accused then reached out to the charity with a conviction she could be Acacia Bishop - a missing baby from the American state in the US - before contacting them about her persistent claim she was Madeleine McCann.

'Did Not Deter'

The defendant's conviction escalated to an attempt to call the hospital where the parents worked.

A lengthy telephone conversation to the switchboard led to a notification from the NHS trust's communications manager to the investigation team, the British investigation into the disappearance.

The jury was told the defendant made further attempts to reach out to officials and then the father directly via email in June 2023.

In a message, she stated: "I could be your daughter, there's a chance I'm her."

She added people were "attempting to conceal the story" and asserted there were resemblances between her and Madeleine, including having marks in the same places.

But her efforts went without response, which court officials said "did not deter" Ms Wendelt - who then made contact with the family's other daughter Amelie via online platforms.

Telling her she was her "only hope", she transmitted doctored images to show they were "somehow related" and claimed to have memories of events prior to disappearance, the court heard.

These assertions, the proceedings revealed, were repeated in this year when the defendant is alleged to have "consistently" contacted Mrs McCann's cell phone over the course of a day - referring to her as "mother", claiming to recall feeding Madeleine's younger brother Sean, of playing ring a roses in the rear yard of the family's home in Rothley, Leicestershire, and of the evening the disappearance occurred.

In one message, she said: "I remember you visited my bedroom before the incident, rubbed my head and said 'I care for you and I will find you'."

Court proceedings of the first defendant, of an address in Lubin, Poland, and the second defendant, of a location in the Welsh city, proceeds.