Protection says alleged stalking had no affect on McCann's every day life

The alleged stalking marketing campaign of a lady who believes she is lacking Madeleine McCann has had little actual affect on the every day lives of Gerry and Kate McCann, his protection crew has argued.

Addressing the trial at Leicester Crown Court, Tom Price Casey, representing Polish nationwide Julia Wandelt, stated his shopper had solely contacted McCann as a final resort.

He stated: “It is the tragedy of this case that the McCanns have had to live with interference in their lives since 2007, but when you examine what impact his actions have had you will see it was not that much.”

Both Miss Wandelt and co-accused Karen Sprague have denied stalking Gerry and Kate McCann.

Mr Price stated the primary contact his shopper made to Glenfield Hospital and Operation Grange in June 2022 had not influenced McCann, and was made with the real hope of answering “complex questions about his background”.

She stated Miss Wandelt had contacted 23 completely different organizations together with police and Interpol, lacking individuals charities and the Find Madeleine web site within the UK, Poland and Portugal.

He stated: “When she contacted the McCanns, she had tried everyone else. This is a woman at the end of her rope.”

He argued that the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange didn’t take his strategy critically, along with his shopper refusing to contact them inside 24 hours.

“She just wants the certainty of a DNA test, it could have been done, it wasn't done,” he stated.

Mr Price stated police weren’t involved when the McCann household grew to become conscious of Ms Wandelt's claims via a routine operations assembly.

After the messaging grew to become obvious, Mr Price stated there was by no means any “malice” and that the numbers he contacted have been all publicly out there after the Portuguese police recordsdata have been leaked.

He stated: “We have by no means seen any threats of violence, no abuse, nothing of that kind.

“This is not evil. This is the confused behavior of a sad and pathetic young woman.”

She stated, when she went to the general public vigil for Madeleine McCann in May 2024, she was “polite”, and she or he went to a police station the following day, saying “this was not the behavior of a woman who has done anything wrong”.

Mr Price stated that when Kate McCann raised the matter with police following her go to to Rothley, it had been two years with out police taking any formal motion.

Before the go to to McCann's dwelling in December 2024, he stated, the victims have been “just doing things”.

He argued that when confronting McCann at his household dwelling with co-defendant Karen Sprague, his shopper “didn't shout, didn't swear” and when Mrs Sprague raised her voice “she said don't talk to her like that”.

He stated that “half an hour later” the victims “waited for him to leave” and have been “in the car going to a party”.

Mr Price stated: “It doesn't seem like it's something that's disrupting his lifestyle.”

He stated that Miss Wandelt's actions weren’t for any private achieve aside from discovering his identification.

Mr Price stated: “She is someone who is completely prepared to be taken advantage of. And what has she got out of it? She has got nothing more than a period of custody and a restraining order.”

Karen Sprague's lawyer Simon Russell Flint Casey stated his shopper's “sole purpose once involved was to find out whether Julia Wandelt could be the missing Madeleine McCann, the kidnapped Madeleine McCann, the lost Madeleine McCann”.

After being contacted following Miss Wandelt's look on a YouTube broadcast in September 2024, he “supported” and “believed” Miss Wandelt and wished to know the reality of her claims – however was “not encouraged”, Mr Russell Flint stated.

He stated: “If you ask how a child could disappear into thin air, are you a conspiracy theorist?”

He stated that Mrs. Sprague “did not intend to upset McCain” and that whereas she was concerned in 2024, there was no DNA proof to disprove his concept.

Mr Russell Flint stated: “After Julia Wandelt's arrest, nearly three years after she first requested and months and months after others requested, the police lastly did what they have been instructed.

“No one earlier than may get up and say with absolute certainty that Julia Wandelt shouldn’t be Madeleine McCann, and that’s the actual irony of the case.

“This is the same test that Julia Wandelt, Karen Sprague and others were seeking to meet.”

Mr Russell Flint stated it was “clear” his shopper posed no threat to the McCanns, as he was solely arrested when Miss Wandell flew again to the UK in February.

Julia Wandelt, 24, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lublin, Poland, and Karen Sprague, 61, of Carrow Court Road, Cardiff, deny stalking McCann inflicting severe concern and misery between June 2022 and February 2025.

The lawsuit is ongoing.