McCanns ‘take no pleasure’ in guilty harassment verdict

Six months for woman who claims she is missing daughter

- TARA COBHAM

A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been found guilty of harassing the missing girl's parents.

Julia Wandelt, 24, turned up at the home of Kate and Gerry McCann and sent sinister letters and messages repeatedly begging for a DNA test.

The 24-year-old Polish national, who now faces deportation, gasped and put her hands to her face when jurors returned a guilty verdict for harassment yesterday, but was acquitted of stalking.

In a statement following the hearing, the couple said they “take no pleasure in the result” and they “only wanted the harassment to stop”.

“The decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, based on the evidence gathered by the police,” the McCanns said. “We hope Ms Wandelt will receive the appropriate care and support she needs and any vulnerability will not be exploited by others.”

The parents urged anyone with new information about Madeleine’s unsolved disappearance to contact the police.

The five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court heard Wandelt claimed to have memories, induced by hypnosis sessions, of being abducted and of living with the McCanns as a child, including feeding Madeleine’s younger brother Sean and playing ring-a-ring-a-roses.