A woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s mother Kate McCann shouted, “Why are you doing this to me?” as she was led from court on Wednesday.
Kate McCann appeared in the witness box at Leicester Crown Court, shielded from the dock by a curtain so she could not see defendants Julia Wendell, 24, also known as Julia Wandelt, and Karen Spragg, 61.
Both women have denied a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
The judge told jurors that the use of a screen was “entirely usual” and did not reflect on the defendants in any way.
The court previously heard that Ms Wandelt, from southwest Poland, claimed to be Madeleine, who vanished from Portugal’s Algarve in 2007, just nine days from her fourth birthday.
She had turned up at the McCanns’ family home and signed a letter addressed to them as the missing girl, the court heard.
Ms McCann began by saying she first became aware of the existence of Ms Wandelt about three years ago.
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC then confirmed that the first attempts to contact the McCann family by Ms Wandelt occurred on 24 June 2022.
Ms McCann said she became aware through officers working on Operation Grange, the Met Police inquiry into her daughter’s disappearance, that Ms Wandelt believed herself to be Madeleine.
Mr Duck then read excerpts of messages Ms Wandelt sent to Ms McCann, in which the defendant said “let me prove I am not a liar” and “give me a chance, I don’t want money”.
Ms McCann was asked by Mr Duck if she had responded to the messages.
Ms McCann answered: “No. I did not want to engage.”
Asked by the Crown’s barrister Michael Duck KC about a visit Ms Wandelt and Ms Spragg made to the McCanns’ home address in Leicestershire on 7 December 2024, Kate McCann said it left her “distressed”.
She said: “I pulled up on the drive… it was really dark, it was the weekend, we had the gales.
“I was opening the boot to get something out and I heard someone say, ‘Kate’.
“I knew it was someone behind me, but I didn’t know who it was. I had pictures of [Ms Wandelt], plus she was quite vivid in my mind anyway because of the communications.
“She called me ‘Mum’, I think, she was asking for a DNA test, ‘Why won’t you do a DNA test?’ and pleading with me.”
Asked by Mr Duck how she felt to be “greeted in that manner on your driveway”, Ms McCann said: “I got a fright anyway; when I realised who it was, I felt quite distressed.
“Then they followed me, I remember trying to close the door and Julia trying to put her hands out to stop me closing the door.”
Asked about the manner of Ms Spragg, who had attended the McCann home address with Ms Wandelt, Kate McCann said: “I would say she was slightly more aggressive.
“She was a bit more kind of… ‘Don’t you want to find your daughter?’”
As the prosecution finished asking Ms McCann questions, Ms Wandelt sobbed loudly and shouted, “Why are you doing this to me?”
Officers escorted her out of the dock at Leicester Crown Court as she continued to cry uncontrollably.
The trial continues.
