Gerry McCann has revealed how outlandish allegations of a Madeleine “cover up” and claims about the “Masons” were levelled at him when two women appeared at the family home, a stalking trial has heard.
Mr McCann and Madeleine’s mum Kate both provided testimony from behind a screen today as they described their distress and frustration at the behaviour of Polish national Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg, from Cardiff, who both deny causing serious alarm.
Wandelt, 24, wept and loudly demanded “Why are you doing this to me?” after Mrs McCann described her upset at being confronted by the duo outside her home in Leicestershire in December last year. The news emerges as ‘Fake Maddie’s’ 9-word plea to Kate McCann as letter revealed in full.
The prosecution claims Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, promoted the false narrative that she was Madeleine – who vanished in Portugal in 2007 – whilst harassing her parents through emails, telephone calls and arriving at their residence.
Mr McCann told the court how the two women visited the family home in December last year and made conspiracy theories, reports the Mirror.
He described how they initially began hammering on the door and “yelling” before detailing his encounter with Wandelt and Spragg, stating: “She (Spragg) said something about a cover up and also of me being a member of the Masons.
“I was pretty astounded. I don’t know much about the Masons, I did not know they allow Catholics in – I said something like that. She said again about covering up.”
Mr McCann recounted that Wandelt was clutching a plastic folder she was attempting to “force into his hand”. He continued: “Then I got inside. I pulled the curtains over the door and went straight into the kitchen to see Kate.
“They kept hammering on the door, for about ten or 15 minutes. They were banging and shouting. Kate was still quite shaken, she was in the house on her own, she felt frightened.”
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC queried if Mr McCann was willing to accept what Wandelt was trying to hand him. He responded: “No. I was trying to get inside the house.”
Mr McCann stated there are individuals who “crazily” subscribe to conspiracy theories, including the notion that he and his wife Kate have no desire to locate their missing daughter. He added: “That’s detrimental to any existing investigation and obviously we have always put that (the inquiry) first.”
Both defendants refute one count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Mr and Mrs McCann between June 2022 and February this year. The trial continues.
