Our live coverage has endedpublished at 17:29 BST 7 October
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A trial of two women accused of stalking the family of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in 2007, opened at Leicester Crown Court on Monday
Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, both deny a charge of stalking
The jury is told Miss Wandelt and Mrs Spragg accosted Madeleine's parents outside their home
Mrs Spragg "peddled" Miss Wandelt's story, the court heard
The pair, the jury heard, acted as a team and contacted a couple who was with the McCanns on the night Madeleine went missing
Madeleine's disappearance at the age of three, during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007, is one of the most widely reported missing child cases and remains unsolved
Edited by Laura Hammond
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Our coverage has now ended but you can read more on the BBC website here.
George Torr
BBC News, East Midlands
The court has now risen for the day and will resume tomorrow at 10:15 BST.
Here's some of what was heard in court today:
The jury has been told that both defendants were arrested at Bristol Airport on 19 February of this year.
Miss Wandelt was detained after getting off of a flight, while Mrs Spragg had been waiting in a car outside and was arrested after sending anxious messages inquiring about the whereabouts of her co-accused.
The court heard that Miss Wandelt mainly answered "no comment" to questions in police interviews and said all she was doing was asking for a DNA test. She denied any intention to harm the McCanns.
Mrs Spragg was "a little more forthcoming", Mr Duck KC said, and admitted to "confronting" the McCanns.
"If it wasn't for the intervention from police on 19 February this all would have continued," he added.
"They knew the distress they would cause."
The court has heard that Miss Wandelt continued her attempts to contact Mrs McCann in the days leading up to Christmas 2024 and went unanswered.
Mr Duck KC said she also returned her attention to Mr Payne and explained in a message that she had sent letters and wanted a DNA test.
On 24 December 2024, Miss Wandelt sent him a message that read: "Merry Christmas David. The truth will set you all free."
The court was told that, shortly afterwards, she sent a message to Mrs McCann that read: "Merry Christmas."
Following a failed attempt to contact Mrs McCann via a WhatsApp group, the prosecution said the defendants continued to make plans for Miss Wandelt to return to the UK.
As those preparations were being made, the court heard, Miss Wandelt began to message associates of the McCanns.
Further attempts were also made to Mrs McCann and family friend Mr Payne.
In another message, Miss Wandelt told Mrs McCann she could "go to the police" or "get a restraining order".
Mr Duck KC said: "She recognises the reality of her behaviour, she knew how serious it was.
"Her interpretation was that she was being protected, but we know there were a number of reports [to the police]."
The prosecutor has told the jury that the defendants had discussed two potential trips Miss Wandelt would make to the UK in February and May of this year.
This included a further attempt to approach the McCanns at the yearly vigil in their home village of Rothley.
The court was told the pair also exchanged images of Miss Wandelt placed next to photographs of Madeleine.
In response, Mrs Spragg said: "Yes looks same child."
Mr Duck KC added they were "obviously different people".
The court has also heard audio of when Mr McCann returned home and was accosted by the defendants.
Again, there were raised voices and Mrs Spragg could be heard asking: "How do you know without DNA?"
In response, Mr McCann said: "I don't want this, please leave the premises."
There is more talking over each other but Mr McCann could be heard saying: "I don't know what your investment is... no we're not having a discussion. Please leave."
Isaac Ashe
BBC News, East Midlands
A recording taken by Miss Wandelt on the night the two defendants stopped Mrs McCann on her doorstep has been played to the court.
Raised voices and confrontations could be heard through the confusion.
The note pushed through the McCanns' door the next day claimed Miss Wandelt had heard "a lot of love" in Mrs McCann's voice.
Mr Duck KC told the court there was a "stark" contrast in what was heard, with Mrs McCann plainly upset - far from the reality Miss Wandelt was trying to paint.
The court has been told that the defendants went to a police station, where Miss Wandelt told an officer she had "very clear memories of her abduction" in May 2007 and that "someone gave me to the person who took me".
She also made an allegation about the McCanns, the jury heard.
She said: "[Their] lack of empathy leads me to believe that they already know the truth, and that they might have been involved in the planned kidnapping and abduction."
Mr Duck KC added: "None of the information can, of course, be true."
The letter from Miss Wandelt to Mrs McCann, who she addressed as "mum", has been read out to the jury.
She wrote: "I'm so sorry for causing you so much distress, but when I saw you yesterday, my emotions were so strong.
"I felt a close connection to you... I don't understand why you don't want to do a DNA test with me.
"I think you are scared, but whatever makes you scared, just remember that you are stronger than that."
The letter was signed off with "Madeleine".
When Mrs McCann returned home, the prosecutor said she was accosted, but "not physically", by Miss Wandelt with a demand for a DNA test.
The court heard Mrs Spragg was present and her "behaviour was such that Kate McCann was unnerved by it".
Mrs McCann "told the pair they were causing distress and should leave the property".
The court then heard that as Mrs McCann went to the door of her family home, Miss Wandelt "attempted to stop her closing the door".
She managed to get inside but was "upset by what happened and made a call to her husband", Mr Duck KC said.
Mrs McCann "could hear bangs at the front door" while doing so, the prosecutor added.
Mr McCann then arrived home and the pair were still present, the court heard.
"They both embarked in very similar behaviour - both shouting at him and trying to force a letter into his hand," Mr Duck KC said.
They eventually left but not "without banging again on the front door" again.
The letter was not taken by him, the court heard, but a letter was posted through the door the next day.
Mr Duck KC said the defendants left the hotel and were spotted on CCTV moving towards the village of Rothley.
The intention of Miss Wandelt's visit to the UK, he added, was to "visit the McCanns' home address".
A WhatsApp message Mrs Spragg sent to a third party read: "We are sat outside the McCanns' home waiting for them to come home.
"We are sat with car lights out."
Mr Duck KC has told the court that Mrs Spragg's "daily and concentrated interest in [Miss Wandelt's] welfare and into the investigation" was evident.
Communications between the two in late November 2024 "shows Miss Wandelt's intention to come over to the UK again", he said.
The prosecutor said Miss Wandelt subsequently flew to East Midlands Airport, where she was met by Mrs Spragg.
They made their way to a hotel in Birstall, Leicestershire, and "their intention was they were going to go to the McCanns' house directly", Mr Duck KC added.
The jury have been shown messages exchanged by the defendants on 19 November 2024.
Miss Wandelt wrote: "We should get their DNA, it's the only way to prove it... if Kate was alone at home, she won't be controlled by Gerry."
Mrs Spragg responded with: "Yeah we could go through their bins LOL [laugh out loud]."
Mr Duck KC said: "The ends of which they were willing to go were quite extraordinary.
"They were operating as a team and were planning an event, something fairly dramatic to assist in the agenda they were pursuing."
The court has been told about messages Mrs Spragg sent to Operation Grange investigators.
In one, she claimed the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was a "cover-up" and that the "truth will come out".
"You may be silencing everyone - Julia is not going away," she said.
In another message, Mrs Spragg claimed Miss Wandelt was "not lying and has done a DNA test".
Detailing further contact with investigators, Mr Duck KC told the court Mrs Spragg said: "Everyone knows the McCanns are guilty and you know the truth and a massive cover-up is happening."
Details of another email Miss Wandelt sent to Mr Payne has been read to the jury.
Referring to Mrs McCann, the defendant wrote: "I don't know what to do, I truly believe I could be her daughter, Madeleine.
"I don't think they want me to contact her."
Mr Duck KC added: "This was a masterpiece of understatement."
The prosecutor has moved on to messages Mrs Spragg sent to the McCanns.
"They were acting as a team... Karen Spragg was now actively involved," Mr Duck KC said, adding that Mrs McCann did not respond.
The court was told the "net was spread wider" and contact was made with David Payne and his wife, who had been with the McCanns on the night Madeleine disappeared.
Mr Payne answered a call made by Miss Wandelt, the jury heard.
Mr Duck KC said the contents of the call showed Mr Payne did not wish to assist the defendant and was trying to "humour her" in order to get her off the phone.
Miss Wandelt followed up the call to Mr Payne with an e-mail, he added.
The prosecutor said Miss Wandelt sought to "emotionally manipulate" Mr Payne and referred to "compelling evidence" of her being Madeleine.
"It was nothing of the sort," Mr Duck KC added.
The jury has heard another voicemail Miss Wandelt left for Mrs McCann.
In it, she described Mrs McCann "putting a pink shoe" on her foot as a child and said she knew how "stressed and sad she is".
"That [memory] members of the jury, did not happen," Mr Duck KC said.
"Julia Wandelt knows that did not happen because she is not Madeleine McCann."
The prosecution has now introduced co-accused Mrs Spragg to the jury in full.
Mr Duck KC said Mrs Spragg was in contact with Miss Wandelt during the middle of 2024.
He added Mrs Spragg was a supporter of Miss Wandelt and was a "forthright supporter of the conspiracy theory" that Madeleine's parents were responsible for her disappearance "despite the unequivocal evidence to the contrary".
He said she kept in "close contact" with Miss Wandelt and "began to take an active role in peddling her story".
The jury is told Miss Wandelt left the village on 4 May 2024, but before returning to Poland, she visited Charing Cross police station in London and told officers she was Madeleine.
The court heard that a DNA sample was taken as a precaution but was destroyed after an officer made contact with Operation Grange and discovered that there was no prospect of Miss Wandelt being who she claimed to be.
An officer from the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was sent to speak to her and contacted Miss Wandelt on 18 June 2024.
Mr Duck KC said the officer explained, in direct terms, that she was not Madeleine and she should desist from seeking to approach the McCann family or risk arrest.
Miss Wandelt responded that she would not give up her claim, the court heard, and also made the effort to record the conversation.