Alleged stalker told police she intended no harm to McCanns

THE alleged stalker of the McCann family said she would "never do anything bad" to them during an interview when police told her that Madeleine is "very special" to Kate, a court heard.

- SOPHIE ROBINSON

Julia Wandelt

Jurors were also told that Julia Wandelt, 24, told officers that her father made a comment about how they got her "from the McCanns" after "drowning" their first child.

Wandelt, from Lubin in southwest Poland, told police in the interviews that she did not intend to cause the McCanns distress and she "never wanted to get attention", the court heard.

Prosecutor Nadia Silver and Leicestershire Police Constable Tom Szyszlak, who interviewed Wandelt the day after she was arrested in February this year, read the transcripts at Leicester Crown Court yesterday.

Jurors heard the officer told Wandelt that Mrs McCann said she found a letter, left for her by the Polish national after she turned up at the house, "deeply disturbing" and "distressing" because it had been addressed: "Dear Mum (Kate)".

He told Wandelt that Mrs McCann said: "Madeleine is very special to me, someone pretending to be her is hurtful."

Wandelt told police: "She [Kate] could always easily prove me wrong if she is sure [that she is not the missing Madeleine]".