Tormented by a Tangle of Lies: McCanns’ ‘Tapas Seven’ Friends Confront Stalker’s Madeleine Claim in Court
The Leicester Crown Court chamber was heavy with the weight of a wound that refuses to heal. On Wednesday, David and Fiona Payne, lifelong friends of Kate and Gerry McCann and members of the so-called “Tapas Seven,” faced a courtroom packed with jurors, journalists, and the ghosts of a 2007 Algarve night. Their testimony, raw and resolute, laid bare the unsettling intrusion of Julia Wandelt, a 24-year-old from Lubin, Poland, accused of stalking the McCanns by claiming she is their missing daughter, Madeleine. “We’ve had reporters, conspiracy nuts, all sorts over the years,” David Payne told the court, voice steady but strained. “But never someone who believed they were Maddie herself. It was chilling, invasive—a violation of our grief.”
Wandelt, alongside co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Caerau, Cardiff, faces charges of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, spanning June 2022 to February 2025. Prosecutors, led by Michael Duck KC, allege Wandelt spun a relentless myth, proclaiming herself Madeleine McCann—abducted at three from a Praia da Luz resort in May 2007—through emails, calls, doorstep visits, and a viral social media campaign. Despite a police DNA test debunking her claim, Wandelt’s persistence, abetted by Spragg’s conspiracy-fueled voicemails and appearances, tormented a family already battered by 18 years of loss. The trial, presided over by Mrs Justice Cutts, probes not just criminality but the raw edge of a global tragedy.
The Paynes, who have known the McCanns for 25 years, were dining with them and five others—the Tapas Seven—at the Ocean Club’s restaurant when Madeleine vanished from her unlocked apartment bedroom. The group’s routine checks on their sleeping children that night failed to thwart a kidnapper, leaving Kate’s cry—“Maddie’s gone!”—to echo through history. Cleared by police but vilified by tabloids and online sleuths, the Paynes have lived under suspicion’s shadow. Wandelt’s approach, beginning in October 2024, cut deeper. She messaged David Payne, urging a DNA test to “clear your names” from lingering theories implicating the group. “I know what happened that night,” she wrote, claiming fragmented memories of the resort and a sinister plot involving “medications” and a “murder bid” from her childhood.
Courtroom audio chilled the air: two calls from Wandelt to David Payne, October 8 and 9, 2024. In the first, her voice wavered: “Please connect me with Kate and Gerry. Operation Grange threatened me—I never lied.” The next day, she pressed for a DNA test, met with Payne’s firm rebuff: “I don’t know who you are.” Fiona Payne, a GP, testified to her fury when Wandelt targeted their adult daughter with friend requests and messages weaving “fake memories” of Praia da Luz. “I was livid,” she said, eyes flashing. “She preyed on our family, exploiting Madeleine’s name to manipulate us.”
The McCanns’ ordeal was laid bare in earlier testimony. Kate, a former anesthetist, recounted 60 contacts in one day—Wandelt’s voicemails pleading, “What if I’m Madeleine? Don’t give up on your daughter,” alongside vivid fabrications: “Mommy putting a pink shoe on my foot.” Gerry, a cardiologist, confronted her directly: “You are not Madeleine.” Their twins, Sean and Amelie, now 20, spoke via video link, Amelie calling the messages “upsetting and disrespectful” for inventing shared childhood moments. Wandelt even crashed a May 2024 vigil in Rothley, joined by Spragg, approaching the McCanns’ aunt and the village vicar with her claims. Spragg’s December 2024 voicemail to Kate begged for a DNA test, hinting at a “cover-up” and promising Wandelt would “go away” if disproven.
Prosecutors detailed Wandelt’s campaign: a 2023 Instagram post—“I am Madeleine McCann”—amassed millions of views, spawning a following of believers and skeptics. She claimed hypnosis unlocked memories—spoon-feeding Sean, playing ring-a-roses in Rothley—despite being born in 2001, years after Madeleine’s 2003 birth. Her texts to the Paynes probed blood types—“O positive, like mine?”—and sent photo comparisons, insisting on facial matches. Duck KC called it a “relentless myth,” causing “acute distress” despite a February 2025 DNA test, taken against policy at Bristol Airport after Wandelt’s arrest en route to Leicestershire, confirming no link. Det Ch Insp Mark Cranwell noted 12 false claimants since 2007, but Wandelt’s “unique” persistence stood out.
Spragg, described as a fervent disciple, allegedly amplified the harassment. She and Wandelt appeared at the McCanns’ home twice—May 2 and December 7, 2024—the latter shoving a letter at Gerry. Their actions, prosecutors argue, crossed from delusion to criminality, exploiting a family’s unending hope. Wandelt, composed in the dock, may lean on mental health defenses, her team hinting at psychological fragility. Spragg, meanwhile, frames her role as advocacy for truth.
The Tapas Seven’s testimony—Matthew Oldfield and Rachael Oldfield are expected next—underscores the collateral pain. “We’ve faced theories before, but this was personal, cruel,” Fiona Payne said, voice breaking. Operation Grange, the Met’s £13 million probe, continues, with German suspect Christian Brueckner in focus, but no charges for Madeleine’s case. As the trial stretches into next week, the McCanns and their friends brace for more revelations, tethered to a loss that defies closure. Madeleine, forever three in yellow pajamas, remains a question mark, her family stalked by a hope that hurts as much as it heals.
