Karen Spragg is accused of stalking along with Polish-born 24-year-old Julia Wandelt. Spragg told police Gerry McCann was nasty to them when they visited the McCann family home
A grandmother standing trial alongside a young woman who believes she is Madeleine McCann told police “she just wants Kate to give her a chance”.
Karen Spragg is accused of stalking along with Polish-born 24-year-old Julia Wandelt. Today Leicester Crown Court has heard the defendants first met online when Spragg began commenting on Wandelt’s posts about her belief that she could be the missing girl who went missing Portugal in 2007 when she was just three years old.
The jury heard police statements read out from 61-year-old’s Spragg police interview where she admitted driving to the McCann’s family home. She told police she had picked Wandelt up from the airport, then put her up in her home in Cardiff, before the pair spent a night in a hotel close to the McCann’s. They the drove to the address and waited.
In her statement read out, Spragg originally told the officer: “Once i only took her there once,” before going on and adding more detail. She said: “We confronted Gerry and Kate, Kate first, then Gerry. The second time was to post a letter from Julia. I did send them text that Julia asked me to.”
Asked about the meeting Spragg admitted that Kate seemed upset. She added that Gerry was “horrible, nasty, and he said ‘you are not our daughter’.”
“He was very condescending to Julia, you talk about Gerry and Kate being distressed, what about Julia? What about me as Julia’s friend.
“I know her from online, i’ve known her for 2 years, she has provided a lot of evidence to support her claims, I have no reason to believe she is lying. I stand by Julia. She is a daughter to me, I feel. She just wants Kate to give her a chance, I just don’t understand, if they want her to go away, why not do a simple DNA test.
“She’s not just some mad girl that’s crazy.I believe Julia is telling the truth. If they had listened to her throughout this there would have been no stalking. How can he say she is not his daughter, she looks like Gerry McCann.
“She has had a tragic life, there is a lot of evidence. I don’t know the McCann’s but I know Julia, she is loving, kind and has a good heart. I find them [the McCann’s] not very nice people. I can’t understand why they have turned her away. If they did a DNA test Julia wouldn’t be in prison and I wouldn’t be here today.”
Spragg told the officer: “I’m arrested for going to their house once or twice, but why did they leave their children in Portugal. They left their children, then everyone is asking why weren’t their twins taken away from them.”
Wandelt is accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann and is alleged to have attended the family home in Leicestershire. She is also accused of sending a letter, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, and sending Amelie and Sean McCann messages.
Spragg is also charged with one count of stalking. The offences are alleged to have taken place between June 2022 and February 2025. The trial continues.
