Julia Wandelt, 24, from southwest Poland, and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.

Julia Wandelt. Pic: Go get funding

A woman who falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann is very manipulative and “tormented” the missing girl’s parents during a stalking campaign, a prosecutor has said.

Julia Wandelt, 24, from southwest Poland, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court along with Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, accused of one count of stalking the McCann family by calling and messaging them and turning up at their home.

In his closing statement to the jury on Monday, Crown counsel Michael Duck KC said Wandelt and Spragg were involved in “cruel and unforgiving” stalking despite knowing their actions were wrong.

Karen Spragg outside Leicester Crown Court. Pic: PA

“This case is about Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg, individually and subsequently as a team, causing very significant distress to Kate and Gerry McCann,” Mr Duck said.

The British couple’s daughter disappeared aged three during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

The defendants were “tormenting the McCanns over a period of time,” including a visit to their family home last December, he said, adding that comments they made outside the property showed Spragg “was not just a hanger-on but an enthusiastic encourager of what was taking place”.

“It demonstrates that these two defendants simply wanted to impose their will on the McCanns,” Mr Duck said.

“They cared only about their own agenda. They knew what they were doing was wrong.”

Distress was ‘blindingly obvious’

Image:Julia Wandelt (left) and Karen Spragg at Leicester Crown Court. Pic: Elizabeth Cook/PA

Mr Duck told the jury it was “blindingly obvious” that distress had been caused to the McCanns – the charge the defendants face – as Wandelt and Spragg had co-authored a letter delivered to the family apologising to Mrs McCann “for causing you so much distress”.

“I am going to suggest, and I don’t apologise for it, that they each were manipulative and capable of being so, and determined in the manner in which they achieved their aims,” he said.

Mr Duck emphasised that there was never any evidence to support Wandelt’s claim that she was Madeleine.

“Julia Wandelt sought to persuade herself and others that she was Madeleine McCann,” Mr Duck continued. “But when you actually analyse the evidence, that’s based on nothing other than her own assertions.”

Wandelt briefly left the dock during Mr Duck’s remarks after becoming upset.

She told the court last week that she “didn’t care anymore” when the lack of scientific evidence linking her to the McCanns was pointed out.

Spragg has decided not to give evidence.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Cutts instructed the jurors on Monday to put aside any feelings of sympathy they might have for the McCanns, the defendants, or both.

“Emotion of any kind does not assist in deciding whether the allegation against each defendant is satisfactorily proved,” she said.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking and the trial continues.