The trial of two women accused of stalking the family of Madeleine McCann—a case that has haunted the British public for nearly two decades—continues to unfold at Leicester Crown Court, drawing fresh attention to the enduring pain faced by the McCanns and their close circle. Julia Wandelt, a 24-year-old Polish national, and Karen Spragg, 61, of Cardiff, stand accused of a campaign of harassment that spanned from June 2022 to February 2025, targeting not only Kate and Gerry McCann but also their friends and even Madeleine’s siblings.
According to BBC, the prosecution’s case centers on a series of persistent and increasingly invasive contacts. Wandelt, who allegedly claimed to be the missing child Madeleine, reached out through a barrage of emails, phone calls, voicemails, and WhatsApp messages. She is accused of sending a letter to Kate McCann signed with Madeleine’s name, and even attempting to contact Amelie and Sean McCann, Madeleine’s younger siblings, via Instagram. The situation escalated in December 2024, when Wandelt and Spragg appeared unannounced outside the McCanns’ Leicestershire home, prompting a deeply distressed Kate McCann to alert law enforcement.
Testifying from behind a privacy screen—a measure designed to shield victims in sensitive cases—Kate McCann described her mounting anxiety and sense of violation. She recounted how the attempt to contact Amelie was “the final straw,” and detailed the fear she felt when confronted by the defendants outside her home. “They kept banging on the door,” she told the court, adding that Wandelt and her companion refused to leave. The emotional toll of these encounters, she said, was profound and persistent.
Gerry McCann, echoing his wife’s sentiments, spoke of the “haunting reminder” that the repeated phone calls and messages represented. “I can’t remember the exact words but I said something like, ‘you’re not Madeleine,’” he testified, underlining the emotional damage such claims can inflict on a family still searching for answers about their missing daughter.
The distress did not end with the McCanns themselves. As reported by BBC, David and Fiona Payne—longtime friends of the family who were present in Portugal on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance—also found themselves targeted. Mrs. Payne described feeling “angry” and “disturbed” after Wandelt attempted to befriend her daughter on social media and sent personal photos of the Payne family, some of which had never been made public. Mr. Payne, who received two phone calls from Wandelt in October 2024, told the jury he was “surprised and concerned” and forwarded all communications to the police. One message from Wandelt read: “Merry Christmas David. The truth will come out.” Another pressed him: “If your daughter who was missing and a girl turned up with compelling evidence what would you do? You can imagine my pain.”
Fiona Payne, reflecting on the experience, remarked, “It’s really difficult actually. I think she’s a vulnerable young adult who has been adversely affected by Madeleine’s disappearance. She has the good sense to ignore these messages. I feel angry actually that she [Julia Wandelt] sought to manipulate her in that way.”
The defendants’ actions extended beyond messaging. According to LeicestershireLive, Wandelt and Spragg are alleged to have physically confronted the McCanns at their home, with Wandelt refusing to accept reassurances from police that she was not Madeleine. The court heard voicemails left by Wandelt for Kate McCann, in which she pleaded, “I really believe you are my biological mother. I just want a DNA test. If I’m not Madeleine McCann then I will leave you all alone. Just don’t reject me. There’s a possibility I’m her. I know I remember.” In another message, she insisted, “You are mummy. You know it’s me. You know I’m not crazy. I remember how you hugged me before the abduction happened. You said you loved me and will find me.”
Spragg, meanwhile, left a voicemail urging Kate McCann to take a DNA test to “clear up” the matter, suggesting, “If you would really want to find your daughter …. At the moment your name is going round, saying there is a cover up. I’m begging you please, for Julia’s sake, do a DNA, and she will go away if she is not Madeleine. Maybe this could be a cover-up. Please take this seriously, ok?”
Throughout the trial, the court has also heard from law enforcement officials involved in Operation Grange, the Metropolitan Police’s long-running investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell testified about the decision to obtain a DNA sample from Wandelt upon her arrest in February 2025. “A comparison took place and it conclusively proved Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann,” he told the jury. When informed of the result, Wandelt reportedly asked, “Do you have paperwork?” and questioned the validity of the findings, but the officers stood by their conclusion.
DCI Cranwell also revealed the immense scale of the investigation: Operation Grange has received over 22,000 emails and amassed 42,000 documents. Since Madeleine’s disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007, twelve individuals have claimed or believed themselves to be the missing child. All have been ruled out by police after careful comparison of photographs, details, or DNA. “We were satisfied Julia was not Madeleine McCann. It was very evident from the photo she sent in and the information she said that she was not Madeleine McCann,” Detective Constable Mark Draycott testified, as reported by Mirror.
Despite these reassurances, Wandelt continued to insist on her identity, sending emails to police listing “eight reasons why I could be Maddie” and contacting those close to the McCanns. The court heard that Wandelt appeared “erratic and excitable” when she and Spragg turned up at a police station in Leicester in December 2024, presenting documents about DNA and pressing her case.
For the McCanns, the ordeal is just one more chapter in a story marked by anguish and public scrutiny. Madeleine’s disappearance at age three remains one of the most widely covered missing child cases in history, with no resolution in sight. The current trial, while focused on the actions of two individuals, has once again thrust the family’s private pain into the spotlight.
As proceedings continue and both Wandelt and Spragg maintain their innocence, the court’s verdict may offer some closure—or at least a pause—in the relentless cycle of speculation and intrusion. But for the McCanns and those who support them, the hope of finding Madeleine remains, as Kate McCann movingly told the jury, “the thing I want most.”
