Woman Charged of Stalking Madeleine McCann's Family, Jury Hears

An individual from Poland who claimed to be Madeleine McCann "pursued that myth" and stalked the missing girl's parents by sending emails, placing telephone calls and appearing at their residence, a court has heard.

Karen Spragg and the second defendant conducted a "campaign of harassment", the court was informed, and in one defendant's situation, that occurred over two and a half years.

On Monday, jurors were told the defendant consistently asserted she was the missing child and was abducted and transported to the European nation.

The first accused and Ms Wandelt each deny a charge of harassment causing serious alarm and anxiety to Madeleine's parents between June 2022 and February this year.

Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the three years old during a family holiday in Portugal - is among the most widely reported missing child cases and continues unresolved.

Legal counsel also mentioned the international focus that Madeleine's case had brought on the family.

"Among numerous devastating outcomes for the McCann family has been their constant inability to escape the glare of publicity that accompanied that incident.

"The focus they have received has not always been compassionate, at times quite the opposite.

"There remains a number of people who persist in refusing to acknowledge their plight and spread unfounded claims.

"Regrettably, these accused individuals belong to that latter group."

Increasing Actions

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

Legal authorities said that, in early 2023, Ms Wandelt was in contact with a Polish charity established to assist with historic missing persons cases and provide assistance and guidance to people seeking those who had disappeared.

Based on the prosecutor, the defendant first claimed she was the disappeared child Inga Gehricke.

But after these assertions were ruled out by the charity, Ms Wendalt then contacted the group with a conviction she could be another missing child - a missing baby from Utah in the United States - before contacting them about her insistence she was Madeleine McCann.

'Failed to Stop'

Her belief progressed to an attempt to call the hospital where both the McCanns were employed.

A lengthy telephone conversation to the switchboard resulted in a report back from the health service representative to the investigation team, the British investigation into the disappearance.

Court proceedings revealed the defendant made additional efforts to reach out to officials and then Mr McCann directly via email in mid-2023.

In one email, she wrote: "I could be your child, it's possible I am the missing girl."

She added people were "trying to cover up the story" and claimed there were similarities between her and Madeleine, including having scars in the same places.

But her efforts went unanswered, which court officials said "did not deter" the defendant - who then made communication with Madeleine's younger sister Amelie via online platforms.

Informing her she was her "sole chance", she transmitted altered photographs to show they were "somehow related" and asserted possessing memories of life before the abduction, the court heard.

These claims, the proceedings revealed, were restated in 2024 when Ms Wendalt is alleged to have "repeatedly" messaged Mrs McCann's cell phone over the course of a day - referring to her as "mother", asserting memory of giving food to Madeleine's younger brother Sean, of playing ring a roses in the back garden of the residence in Rothley, Leicestershire, and of the evening the disappearance occurred.

In one message, she said: "I recall you came to my room before the incident, touched my hair and said 'I care for you and I'll locate you'."

Court proceedings of the first defendant, of an address in the Polish city, Poland, and Ms Spragg, of a location in the Welsh city, continues.