McCanns tell jury alleged stalkers caused 'distress'

An emotional Gerry McCann has spoken of the "distressing" impact caused by claims from a Polish woman that she is his missing daughter.

From behind a privacy screen, Mr McCann and Kate McCann - parents of missing Madeleine McCann - gave evidence to Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday in the trial of Julia Wandelt, 24, and 61-year-old Karen Spragg.

Ms Wandelt and Mrs Spragg are each charged with one count of stalking Mr and Mrs McCann between June 2022 and February this year.

Mr McCann was told to "take his time" as he went through his evidence, while Mrs McCann spoke of the "fright" she felt at the defendants turning up outside the family home in December 2024.

Mrs McCann first took to the stand, with the jury told the use of a screen was "entirely usual" and did not reflect on the defendants in any way.

She told the court that learning of Ms Wandelt's contact with her daughter Amelie was "the final straw", prompting her to phone the police.

Mrs McCann was also asked about her reaction to a letter from Ms Wandelt - posted a day after the face-to-face confrontation outside her home - signed off with her missing daughter's name and a kiss.

"I think that is an example of the thing that was upsetting me most," she said.

As her evidence finished, Ms Wandelt sobbed loudly and was led away from the dock after shouting "why are you doing this to me?"

Later, Mr McCann spoke from the witness box and told of the phone repeatedly ringing.

He said on one occasion, he answered.

Mr McCann said: "I can't remember the exact words but I said something like, 'you're not Madeleine'."

He seemed to be struggling as he spoke of the impact on his family.

"We don't know what happened to Madeleine; there's no evidence she's dead," Mr McCann said.

"When people claim to be your missing daughter you haven't seen for this long, it pulls on your heartstrings. But it is damaging the search for Madeleine."

Madeleine's disappearance at the age of three, during a family holiday in Portugal's Algarve on 3 May 2007, is one of the most widely reported missing child cases and remains unsolved.

The trial has heard that from June 2022, Ms Wandelt had begun to tell "anyone who would care to listen" that she was Madeleine, initially contacting a Polish missing persons charity she had previously spoken to, to claim she was two other missing children.

After repeated attempts to contact the McCann family, the court heard Ms Wandelt travelled to the family's home village of Rothley in Leicestershire on 3 May 2024 - the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance - but by chance Mr and Mrs McCann were away.

Ms Wandelt began to "spread the net", the prosecution said, and ended up encountering co-defendant Mrs Spragg online.

The jury was told Mrs Spragg became a "forthright" supporter of Ms Wandelt's and the "conspiracy theory" that Madeleine's parents were involved in her disappearance.

The McCanns, the court heard, then came across the defendants face-to-face when Ms Wandelt and Mrs Spragg turned up outside their home on 7 December 2024 and "accosted" them.

Along with a demand for a DNA test, the defendants were accused of trying to force a letter into Mr McCann's hand.

Mrs McCann told the jury "logically" she did not believe Ms Wandelt could be Madeleine.

She said having seen a photograph of Ms Wandelt - and the fact she was Polish - "none of it made any sense".

"I know I can't say what Madeleine looks like now, but I know I'd recognise her," she added.

Recalling the events of 7 December, Mrs McCann said: "I pulled up on the drive, it was really dark, it was the weekend - we had really bad gales.

"I was opening the boot to get stuff out and I heard 'Kate' - it gave me a fright."

She added she felt "invaded in her own home", while Mr McCann recalled "Kate was still pretty shaken".

"She was in the house on her own, I think she felt frightened," he said.

"We rarely get people coming to the house now, but every time you're driving home you're worried if someone's going to be there - you're nervous for the 10 seconds it takes to drive down your road."

Mr McCann said there were people that "crazily" believed conspiracy theories, including that he and his wife Kate did not want to find their missing daughter.

He added: "That's detrimental to any existing investigation and obviously we have always put that [the inquiry] first."

Ms Wandelt was arrested in February after arriving at Bristol Airport, with Mrs Spragg also detained in a nearby car park.

The trial of Ms Wandelt, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, and Mrs Spragg, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, continues.