Two women have appeared in court accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s family.
Karen Spragg, 60, appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court this morning after being arrested in Cardiff yesterday.
She is accused of turning up at Gerry and Kate McCann’s Leicestershire home with co-accused Julia Wandel, 23, a Polish woman who has claimed to be the couple’s missing daughter Madeleine.
Spragg is also accused of sending letters, messages and calling Kate McCann, Paul Wright, prosecuting, said.
He said she had met co-accused Wandel online where the pair exchanged messages before Spragg arranged to collect Wandel from Bristol Airport when she flew into the UK.
Dressed in a beige sweatshirt with matching jogging bottoms and pale blue Crocs sandals, Spragg spoke only to confirm her name and date of birth during a brief hearing. She gave no indication of plea.
She was granted bail on the condition she does not contact the McCanns or their other children or two of their family friends and does not enter Leicestershire apart from to attend court.
She must also reside at her home address, where she lives with her husband, each night.
Karen Spragg, 60, appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court on Friday morning after being arrested in Cardiff yesterday. Pictured: Spragg arrives at Leicester Magistrates Court today
She is accused of turning up at Gerry and Kate McCann’s Leicestershire home with co-accused Julia Wandel (pictured), 23, a Polish woman who has claimed to be the couple’s missing daughter Madeleine
Madeleine McCann’s (pictured) disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal’s Algarve at the age of three in 2007 is one of the most widely reported missing child cases in history and remains unsolved
Elizabeth Needham, chair of the bench, ordered her to appear again at Leicester Crown Court on April 22.
Spragg has been charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress between May 3, 2024 and February 21 this year, Leicestershire Police said.
Earlier on Friday, her co-accused Wandel was refused bail at Leicester Crown Court.
Wandel, who has claimed to be Madeleine, was arrested at Bristol Airport last month on suspicion of stalking involving serious alarm and distress.
The Polish national, who is also known as Julia Wandelt, was remanded into custody following a subsequent court appearance at Leicester Magistrates Court and her barrister on Friday applied for bail on her behalf.
Judge Timothy Spencer KC refused the application after a 15-minute hearing in which Wandel was present via video link.
Wandel, from Lubin, south-west Poland, is accused of stalking causing serious alarm or distress against Madeleine’s mother, Kate McCann between May 2 last year and February 15 this year, court documents show.
Wandel has also been charged with the same offence against Madeleine’s father, Gerry, between the same dates.
Spragg (pictured outside court today) has been charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress between May 3, 2024 and February 21 this year, Leicestershire Police said
Wandel, who has claimed to be Madeleine, was arrested at Bristol Airport last month on suspicion of stalking involving serious alarm and distress. Pictured: Court sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Wandel at Leicester Magistrates Court last month
It is alleged she made unwanted contact with the McCanns, turned up at their address and sent letters, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages, which amounted to stalking. Pictured: Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann
It is alleged she made unwanted contact with the McCanns, turned up at their address and sent letters, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages, which amounted to stalking.
She is also accused of stalking causing serious alarm or distress against Madeleine’s sister, Amelie between January 3 and April 21 last year.
A further charge relates to an allegation of stalking causing serious alarm or distress against Madeleine’s brother, Sean between November 27 and December 29 last year.
Court documents state the 23-year-old Wandel is alleged to have sent messages, left voicemails and turned up at the family home between January 3, 2024 and February 15, 2025.
The documents say Ms Wandel is alleged to have gone to the McCanns’ home in Leicestershire twice – on May 2 and December 7 – as well as sending WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, and Instagram messages to Madeleine’s siblings.
They add the conduct ‘had a substantial adverse effect’ on the family’s day-to-day activities ‘when you knew or ought to have known that your course of conduct would cause alarm or distress’.
Prosecutor Ravinder Daroch told last month’s court hearing that Wandel is alleged to have made ‘persistent’ contact with the McCanns since 2022, which allegedly ‘increased in frequency and became more alarming’.
She said the defendant is accused of attempting to make the McCanns aware ‘she was their missing daughter, Madeleine’.
Dressed in a beige sweatshirt with matching jogging bottoms and pale blue Crocs sandals, Spragg (pictured outside court today) spoke only to confirm her name and date of birth during a brief hearing. She gave no indication of plea
Wandel is alleged to have travelled to the annual vigil held in Rothley last year which marks the anniversary of Madeleine’s (pictured) disappearance
Wandel is alleged to have travelled to the annual vigil held in Rothley last year which marks the anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.
Ms Daroch said that Wandel was told by the Metropolitan Police in June last year to desist from all contact with the McCann family, but she continued to reach out to them.
She added that voicemails were left for them and that she had attended their address in October and again in January.
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal’s Algarve at the age of three in 2007 is one of the most widely reported missing child cases in history and remains unsolved.
Madeleine’s parents and siblings were not present at either court today.
Wandel will appear alongside Spragg at the crown court next month.
