Alleged stalker signed letter to McCanns as missing daughter Madeleine, court told

A WOMAN accused of stalking the McCanns turned up at their family home and signed a letter addressed to them as Madeleine, a court has heard.

- SOPHIE ROBINSON

Jurors heard that Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in southwest Poland, who claimed to be the missing girl, with her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, also discussed stealing bags of rubbish from the family’s home to get DNA samples.

Wandelt and Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.

Continuing the prosecution's opening at Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Michael Duck KC said Mrs McCann was “unnerved” when they both waited outside her home last year, were “banging on the door” and Wandelt “tried to force a letter” into Mr McCann's hand.

Mr Duck told the jury:

“She told Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg they were causing distress and they should leave the property.

“Whatever they suggest are their beliefs, they do not afford someone the right to lie in wait for their targets, outside their own home, and enforce their will upon them. That is precisely what happened.”

Mr Duck said when Mrs McCann managed to get into her house, she recalls Wandelt try to stop her closing the door.

The court heard that in a letter left at the home the next day, Wandelt wrote: “Dear mum (Kate), I’m so sorry for causing you so much distress. I felt a connection to you. I don’t like to see you being upset. All I want is to find out the truth. Yesterday I heard a lot of care and love in your voice.”