Kate and Gerry McCann break silence after 'fake Maddie' found guilty of harassment

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann said they take "no pleasure" in the result of the trial after a Polish woman, who claimed to be their missing daughter, was convicted of harassing them. Julia Wandelt was found guilty of harassing the couple on Friday, November 7, and was instead cleared of stalking them.

The 24-year-old faces deportation following the guilty verdict and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, which is less than the time she has already served on remand awaiting trial. She was also made the subject of a restraining order, with a judge telling her she poses a "significant risk of the harassment" of the McCanns "in future". In their statement, issued through Leicestershire Police, Kate and Gerry McCann said they "did not want go through a court process and only wanted the harassment to stop". The statement read: "Despite the jury's guilty verdict of harassment, we take no pleasure in the result.

"Like most people, we did not want to go through a court process and only wanted the harassment to stop. The decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, based on the evidence gathered by the police. We hope Ms Wandelt will receive the appropriate care & support she needs and any vulnerability will not be exploited by others. If anyone has new evidence relating to Madeleine's disappearance, please pass this on to the police."

A five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court heard Wandelt claimed to have memories, induced by hypnosis sessions, of being abducted and of living with the McCanns as a child, including feeding Madeleine's younger brother, Sean, and playing ring-a-ring-a-roses.

Forensic expert Rosalyn Hammond told jurors "Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann" because their DNA profiles do not match.

Wandelt's DNA sample was taken by police after she was arrested at Bristol Airport in February, which was against the investigation's policy, in an attempt to "stop her behaviour" towards the McCanns.

Her profile was compared with a sample recovered from Madeleine's embroidered pillowcase at the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, days after she disappeared and a blood sample taken when she was born.

Asked in court whether she still thought she was Madeleine, Wandelt said she was "50/50" and added she would like to see the full paperwork proving they are different people.

The following day in the witness box, Wandelt said: "I do believe I'm her. I do remember them but I'm exhausted, I'm completely exhausted with all of this."

Wandelt told the trial she could not remember early parts of her childhood, and after looking into missing persons cases she realised she had a similar mark in her eye to Madeleine.

Sentencing judge Mrs Justice Cutts told Wandelt her "pestering" and "badgering" of the McCanns was "unwarranted" and "unkind".

She told the defendant: "They (the McCanns) were entitled to refuse to engage with you, particularly in the sad circumstances in which they live with the disappearance of Madeleine. They have suffered from that disappearance of their young child for many years, they are entitled to their privacy and to get on with their lives in the best way they can and to decide with whom, and with whom not, they will engage.

"Your constant pestering, badgering and eventually attendance at their home address on a dark evening in December was unwarranted, unkind, and as the jury have now found, criminal."

Wandelt's co-defendant, Karen Spragg, was found not guilty of stalking and harassment.

Wandelt, who sat beside Spragg in the dock, gasped at the verdicts, while Spragg cried.