💔 “I opened my emails… and my blood ran cold.”
Those were the haunting words spoken by Fiona Payne, one of Kate and Gerry McCann’s closest friends, as she took the stand in a packed courtroom this week — her voice trembling as she relived a discovery that dragged her back into a nightmare she thought she’d left behind nearly two decades ago.

Eighteen years after Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in Praia da Luz — a tragedy that stunned the world — Fiona told jurors how a simple click on her spam folder uncovered a stream of chilling, obsessive messages allegedly tied to two women now facing prosecution: Julia Wandelt, 24, and Karen Spragg, 61.

“We’ve had messages before,” Fiona whispered, her hands shaking slightly as she held a tissue. “But never anything like this… never this personal, this dark.”

According to prosecutors, the two women repeatedly targeted individuals connected to the McCann family, sending dozens of emails that investigators described as “deeply disturbing and highly invasive.” Some of the messages allegedly referenced private details known only to those close to the family — details that left Fiona, and others, “shaken to the core.”

Court documents reveal that the messages, sent over several months, contained unsettling claims and graphic insinuations. Both defendants are accused of harassment, online stalking, and emotional distress, charges that could carry serious penalties if proven.

As Fiona recounted how she first stumbled upon the emails, the courtroom fell silent. Even seasoned journalists shifted uneasily as her words painted a picture of grief renewed — the pain of that May night in 2007, suddenly alive again.

“Every time you think you’ve made peace with what happened,” she said softly, “something like this drags you back under. It’s like the wound never closes.”

Observers described the moment she stepped down from the stand as “heartbreaking”. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she clasped her hands tightly, walking past the same photographers who once captured her comforting Kate McCann in the days after Madeleine vanished.

For many who have followed the case, Fiona’s testimony was a grim reminder that the shadows of the past still linger — not only in unanswered questions about Madeleine’s fate but in the ongoing torment faced by those who were there.

As the trial continues, prosecutors have vowed to expose the full extent of the harassment campaign, while Fiona and others close to the McCanns brace themselves once more for headlines, memories, and heartache they never asked to relive.

“It never truly ends,” Fiona said as she left court. “It just finds new ways to return.”