Kate and Gerry McCann say ‘we take no pleasure in the result’ as Polish fantasist who believed she was missing Maddie is found guilty of harassing them

Kate and Gerry McCann said they were ‘not amused by the outcome’ after a dreamer who claimed to be their missing daughter was found guilty of harassing them.

In their first press statement today, the couple demanded new evidence regarding Madeleine’s disappearance.

Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, was found guilty of harassing the McCann family but was cleared of stalking them after a trial at Leicester Crown Court.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr and Mrs McCann said: ‘Despite the jury’s guilty verdict for harassment, we take no satisfaction in the outcome.

‘Like most people we didn’t want to go through a court process and just wanted the harassment to stop.

‘The decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service based on evidence gathered by the police.

‘We hope that Ms Wandelt will receive the appropriate care and support she needs and that any vulnerability will not be exploited by others.

‘If anyone has new evidence regarding Madeleine’s disappearance, please pass it on to the police.’

Both Mr and Mrs McCann gave evidence during the five-week trial describing how his behavior had caused them distress.

They both became emotional as they explained how Wandelt also targeted Sean and Amelie and came to their home.

of Wandelt Her friend and ‘supporter’ care worker Karen Spragg, 61, was cleared of stalking and burst into tears as the verdicts were announced. The two women were seen holding hands and giggling before the verdicts were read.

Wandelt wept as he was found not guilty of stalking the McCanns for almost three years

Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, appears at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday. cleared

Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said the maximum sentence for harassment was six months and Wandelt had already been detained for longer. He was arrested in February.

Wandelt was accused of stalking the McCanns for almost three years, calling, texting, leaving voicemails and showing up at their home to demand DNA testing after claiming to be their missing daughter.

Her lawyer claimed she was ‘vulnerable’ and that her behavior was that of a ‘rather sad and pathetic young woman’ because she acted ‘out of desperation’ because she believed her parents were lying about her.

Spragg’s defense team argued that when he took Wandelt to the McCann house and shouted at Kate, he was simply trying to detect a crime, such as the kidnapping of Madeleine.

Wandelt appeared to be crying in the room behind the defendant before Mrs Justice Cutts reconvened the court to consider his sentence.

The judge told his lawyer that he “needed to pull himself together” for sentencing, and the lawyer then sat quietly in the defendant’s chair.

Prosecuting barrister Michael Duck KC said a restraining order had been issued against Wandelt because of ‘clear harassment’ against the McCann family.

He said: ‘We accept that there was clearly harassment and on the evidence that this will continue in the future and that this is a mechanism by which the McCanns may be provided with some protection.’

The court was told that a deportation order had already been served on Wandelt and that it was a matter for the foreign secretary whether he remained in custody.

The judge granted restraining orders to both women. Wandelt was sentenced to six months in prison.

A sketch of Wandelt in the dock at Leicester Crown Court

Video footage shows Wandelt and Spragg checking into a hotel before confronting the McCanns at their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, in December, where they were caught by a neighbour’s Ring doorbell.

Audio recorded by Wandelt on his phone reveals the moment he approached Mr McCann and told him she was not Madeleine.

An audio recording was also released today in which an officer from Operation Grange, the Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeline’s disappearance, tells Wandelt that there is no missing girl.

Det Con Draycott said he “absolutely” did not call Ms Wandelt and tell her she was not Madeleine.

The conversation played in court was recorded without his knowledge, heard by the jury and uploaded to a YouTube crime podcast with Ms. Wandelt.

Mr Duck told jurors that both women had caused ‘significant distress’ to Kate and Gerry and that the McCanns’ messages and calls and the visit to his home showed ‘the lengths these two ladies would go to to ensure they achieved their objectives and imposed their will on them’.

Referring to Ms McCann’s visit to the McCanns’ home, he was heard in a recording saying “You are causing so much distress, stop it”, McCann said what he had done to her could not have been “more clear than that in plain English”.

In the recording, Wandelt can be heard telling Spragg, ‘Don’t yell at Kate’; Mr Duck said this was ‘an early and overwhelming indication that Miss Spragg was not just a hanger-on but an enthusiastic promoter’.

The court heard that Wandelt, who claimed she was sexually abused by her step-grandfather as a child, first started thinking she was Madeleine in June 2022 while she was at the hospital where she was being treated for depression and self-harm.

From then on, she was said to have contacted friends of the McCanns and Madeleine’s siblings, Sean and Amelie, trying to ‘convince anyone who was prepared to listen that she was Madeleine McCann’.

Madeleine said she had childhood memories of growing up with twins who were two when she disappeared from a holiday home in the Algarve in 2007.

And when Kate McCann said she would find him, he claimed he had memories of being ‘kidnapped’; The prosecution said it was a ‘particularly egregious’ lie given Ms McCann’s desperation to find her daughter.

Wandelt said the photos he shared with the McCanns and his more than one million followers online showed the similarities between himself and Madeleine and other members of his family.

He also claimed to have DNA evidence showing he was an almost 70 per cent match to Gerry McCann but jurors were told this was ‘completely irrelevant and complete nonsense’.

Wandelt, who worked as a private tutor, recorded much of his communication with the McCanns and posted the harrowing audio online.

Wandelt sobbed uncontrollably at several points during the hearing and shouted ‘why are you doing this to me’ as Ms McCann gave evidence.

When jurors were told: ‘She is not Madeleine’, she screamed and ran away from the dock.

Judge Mrs Justice Cutts urged the jurors to put aside any feelings or sympathy for Mr and Mrs McCann before considering the verdict.

Although police presented DNA evidence that it was not Madeleine, the defense attorney said he still believed she could be the missing girl.

It may also be revealed that Wandelt claimed she could be the fourth missing girl, Katelyn Rivera-Helton, who went missing in America in 1999 at the age of 20 months.

His father, Robert, was convicted of murder, although his body was never found. The court heard Wandelt asked ChatGPT in January to look into similarities between himself and the missing girl.

It comes after Inga Gehricke, who previously disappeared in Germany in 2015, and Acacia Bishop, from Utah, who was kidnapped in 2003, said she could decide against Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from a holiday home in the Algarve in 2007.

It can also be reported that prosecutors took the highly unusual step of attempting to ban all reporting on the trial after Wandelt gave an interview to a YouTube channel behind bars.

And in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Julia’s father, Jacek Wandelt, told the harrowing story of his daughter’s obsession and the pain he experienced watching it unfold.

‘I’m following the case and I just want them’ [the judge and jury] “To see that Julia is not bad, that she is sick and needs help,” he said.

‘The situation is absolutely crazy, I know the McCanns lost their daughter and I have no idea what happened but I lost my daughter too.’

Wandelt, who claims she was sexually abused by her step-grandfather as a child, first started thinking she was Madeleine (pictured) in June 2022.

Pictures shared by Julia Wandelt that she claims resemble Madeleine

Another photo shared on social media reportedly shows a resemblance between her and Kate McCann

A composite of Wandelt on social media claiming similarities between himself and Gerry

Julia Wandelt claimed in her social media posts that she had marks similar to Madeleine on her face

Defense lawyer Tom Price said she was not ‘bad’ as the Crown suggested, she was ‘desperate’ and her behavior was that of a ‘pretty sad and pathetic young woman’.

In his closing speech he told jurors: ‘You may think you are coming across a confused, troubled young lady who has certainly had her share of problems in her life: sexually abused by her step-grandfather, mental health problems no doubt linked to the abuse she has suffered, someone who has self-harmed someone who has attempted suicide… you’d have to be hard-hearted not to feel some compassion and sympathy for that young woman.

‘And despite his confusion about his identity and who he is…he embarks on this three-year course to find out what his life is about and who he is.’

Simon Russell Flint KC, defending Spragg, suggested that Wandelt was on an ‘increasingly desperate quest’ to try and find out who he was.

He said Spragg’s ‘sole purpose’ was to find out whether Wandelt was the ‘missing Madeleine’.

Mr Russell Flint said: ‘Karen Spragg became a true friend of Julia Wandelt.’ ‘He almost suffered with it. He supported him, believed in him. He wanted to help her find her true identity.’