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

An individual from Poland who asserted to be Madeleine McCann "maintained that false narrative" 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 conducted a "campaign of harassment", Leicester Crown Court heard, and in one defendant's situation, that occurred over thirty months.

On Monday, the court heard the defendant repeatedly claimed she was Madeleine and was taken and transported to the European nation.

Ms Spragg and Ms Wandelt each contest a count of stalking resulting in serious alarm and anxiety to Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and early this year.

The child's vanishing in the year 2007 - at the age of three during a family holiday in the European country - is among the most extensively covered child disappearance incidents and continues unresolved.

The prosecutor also spoke of the global attention that Madeleine's case had directed toward the family.

"One of many devastating outcomes for Madeleine's parents has been their ongoing struggle to avoid the spotlight of publicity that accompanied that tragedy.

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

"There continues to exist a number of people who persist in refusing to acknowledge their situation and spread unfounded claims.

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

Escalating Behavior

The court heard from June 2022, the defendant had begun to speak to "any willing listener" that she was the missing child.

The prosecutor said that, in early 2023, the accused was in communication with a organization in Poland established to assist with long-term disappearance incidents and offer support and guidance to people seeking those who had gone missing.

Based on court testimony, the defendant first claimed she was missing German girl Inga Gehricke.

But after these claims were dismissed by the charity, Ms Wendalt then contacted the group with a belief she could be another missing child - a missing baby from the American state in the United States - before messaging them about her insistence she was the British missing child.

'Did Not Deter'

Her belief escalated to an attempt to call the medical facility 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 additional efforts to reach out to officials and then Mr McCann personally through electronic mail in mid-2023.

In a message, she wrote: "It's possible I am your child, there's a chance I'm her."

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

But her attempts went unanswered, which court officials said "failed to discourage" the defendant - who then made contact with the family's other daughter the sibling via online platforms.

Informing her she was her "only hope", she sent altered photographs to show they were "possibly connected" and claimed to have recollections of life before the abduction, the court heard.

These claims, the court heard, were restated in this year when Ms Wendalt is alleged to have "repeatedly" contacted the mother's mobile over the span of 24 hours - referring to her as "mommy", claiming to recall giving food to Madeleine's younger brother the boy, of playing ring a roses in the rear yard of the residence in Rothley, Leicestershire, and of the night Madeleine was abducted.

In a communication, she said: "I remember you visited my bedroom before the abduction, touched my hair and said 'I love you and I'll locate you'."

The trial of Ms Wendalt, of an address in the Polish city, Poland, and the second defendant, of a location in the Welsh city, proceeds.