Kate McCann tells jury at distress at being visited at home by alleged stalkers
Karen Spragg and 24-year-old Julia Wandelt both deny stalking
Last updated 8th Oct 2025
Kate McCann was left distressed after being confronted on her driveway by two women accused of stalking her, including a Polish national who has falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann, she told a court.
Giving evidence against Karen Spragg, 61, and 24-year-old Julia Wandelt, who both deny stalking, Mrs McCann said she first became aware of communications from the younger defendant around three years ago.
Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, peddled the myth that she herself was Madeleine - who went missing in Portugal in 2007 - while stalking the missing girl's parents by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address.
Wandelt and Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, deny a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry between June 2022 and February this year.
Giving evidence on Wednesday from behind a curtain screening her from the dock at Leicester Crown Court, Mrs McCann was asked by the Crown's barrister Michael Duck KC about a visit the defendants made to her home address in Leicestershire on December 7 last year.
Mrs McCann, who said she had been made aware by police of communications sent by Wandelt as early as June 2022, told the court: "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.
"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 about the manner of Spragg, who had attended the address with Wandelt, Mrs 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?'."
Asked by Mr Duck if she wanted the women there, Mrs McCann said she did not.
Mr Duck said: "Did you make that plain?"
"I did," Mrs McCann replied. "I told them to leave. I told them I was distressed."
Asked how the incident had made her feel, Mrs McCann added: "I felt quite distressed to be honest.
"I think I had been on edge anyway because of the recent communications from her."
She said she phoned her husband Gerry when she managed to get inside her home and lock the door and told him what had happened.
After almost 90 minutes in the witness box, Mrs McCann was given a break by the trial judge, prompting Wandelt to begin to sob loudly in the dock and shout "why are you doing this to me?".
The trial continues.