Alleged stalker has damaged efforts to find Maddie, court told

AN EMOTIONAL Gerry McCann has told a jury that an “incessant” alleged stalker who claims to be Madeleine McCann has damaged efforts to find his missing daughter.

- SOPHIE ROBINSON, JOSH PAYNE, MATTHEW COOPER and STEPHANIE WAREHAM

Mr McCann and Madeleine's mother Kate both gave evidence from behind a curtain as they spoke of their distress and anger at the actions of Polish national Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg, who both deny causing serious alarm.

Wandelt, 24, hysterically sobbed and shouted “Why are you doing this to me?” after Mrs McCann spoke of her distress at being confronted by the pair outside her home in Leicestershire in December last year.

Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in southwest Poland, peddled the myth that she was Madeleine - who went missing in Portugal in 2007 - while stalking her parents by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address.

Giving evidence after his wife's testimony to Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Mr McCann was asked by the prosecutor what impact the false claim made by, and communications sent by, Wandelt had had on him.

Mr McCann answered: “Well, we know she’s not our daughter. It has many effects - we don’t know what happened to Madeleine. There's no evidence to say she’s dead. We really hope, and we know it’s only a glimmer, that Madeleine is alive.

“When so many people claim to be our missing daughter, it inevitably pulls your heartstrings, but there is a wider effect that is more damaging”