A woman who repeatedly claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been found guilty of harassing the missing girl's parents but cleared of a more serious stalking charge.

Julia Wandelt and her supporter Karen Spragg - who was acquitted of all charges - were accused of mounting a "campaign of harassment" against Kate and Gerry McCann, which in Wandelt's case lasted more than two years.

Wandelt, 24, of Lubin, Poland, was found guilty of a lesser charge of harassment and sentenced to six months in prison, which she has already served, having been in custody since February.

In a statement, the McCanns said that, despite the guilty verdict, they "take no pleasure in the result".

In the statement, the McCanns said they did not want to go through the court process, but a decision to prosecute was made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), based on the evidence gathered by the police.

"We hope Ms Wandelt will receive the appropriate care and support she needs and any vulnerability will not be exploited by others," they said.

"If anyone has new evidence relating to Madeleine's disappearance, please pass this on to the police."

Wandelt was sentenced during a hearing at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.

During her sentencing remarks, Mrs Justice Cutts said she accepted that the Polish national did "not have an easy childhood".

But she said her family history did "not justify the way you behaved".

"It has been confirmed in this case you are not Madeleine McCann," she said.

"There was not proper or logical basis for this."

The judge said the McCanns were "entitled to leave matters with the police and refuse to engage with you particularly in the sad circumstances they live".

She added: "Your constant pestering, badgering and, eventually, attendance at their home address on a dark evening in December was unwarranted."

The judge also granted a restraining order stopping both Wandelt and Mrs Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, from contacting the McCanns, visiting Leicestershire or publishing any broadcast concerning the family.

Wandelt's order will remain in place indefinitely, or until any further ruling is made, while Mrs Spragg's order will be in place for five years.

The trial heard Wandelt has claimed to be Madeleine, whose disappearance during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 has never been solved, since 2022.

The results of a DNA test carried out after her arrest in February of this year "conclusively proved" she is not the missing child, but, under cross-examination, Wandelt told the court she was still "50-50" about her identity.

The trial heard Wandelt previously claimed to be two other missing children before asserting she was Madeleine.

Giving evidence, she told the jury she had limited memories of her childhood and "could only remember abuse" after experiences with her step-grandfather.

She began to reach out to the McCann family through Glenfield Hospital, where Madeleine's parents worked, in June 2022 and then the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the missing child.

Police looked into Wandelt's claims and called her to "reassure" her she was not Madeleine, the court heard, but contact moved on to directly attempting to reach the McCanns, whose personal details had been included in a leaked Portuguese police file and posted online.

Mrs McCann was subsequently "bombarded" with more than 60 calls and messages on one day, the court was told.

Mr McCann told the court on another occasion, he answered to say "something like, 'you're not Madeleine'".

He said claims like Wandelt's "pull on your heartstrings" but were "damaging" to the search for his daughter.

The court heard Madeleine's younger siblings Amelie, and then Sean, were contacted by Wandelt over social media, and family friends and associates - including the parish priest - all received communications, up until February 2025.

But attempts to press the McCanns for a DNA test were not just made remotely.

Wandelt attended a vigil for Madeleine where she tried to hand organiser Janet Kennedy, Madeleine's great-aunt, an envelope.

She said she "tried to stay courteous and calm", but told the jury she was "stunned" by the approach.

Mrs Kennedy later tore up the letter, the court heard.

After becoming aware of Wandelt's visit to the vigil and then Charing Cross police station to have DNA - which was later destroyed - taken, Det Con Mark Draycott told the trial he called Wandelt for a second time to say "in no uncertain terms" that she was not Madeleine.

He advised her if she returned to Leicestershire she could face harassment charges.

The conversation - which was played in court - was recorded without Det Con Draycott's knowledge, the jury heard, and uploaded to a YouTube crime podcast with Wandelt.

Prosecutor Michael Duck KC said it was around this time that Mrs Spragg, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, struck up a relationship online with Wandelt to support her claims and "conspiracy theories".

'Horrible memories'

A WhatsApp exchange in November 2024 between Wandelt and Mrs Spragg included jokes about going through the McCanns' bins and stealing cutlery from a restaurant after they visited to obtain DNA, the court heard.

Giving evidence from behind a privacy screen, Mrs McCann testified that she was distressed after being confronted on her driveway by the defendants, who pleaded for a DNA test, in December 2024

She said she felt "invaded in her own home", while Mr McCann, who had arrived a short while later, told the court: "It brings back a lot of horrible memories of when the media was camped outside our house."

Wandelt appeared on Dr Phil in the US, which prosecutors said kept her public profile high, and had planned further media appearances on her return to the UK when instead both defendants were arrested in February 2025.

During cross-examination, Wandelt said she was still "50-50" about being Madeleine, despite DNA testing by police carried out after the arrests conclusively proving she is not.

She questioned the authenticity of the DNA results when told the results at HMP Peterborough on 1 April this year, and demanded to see the "entire paperwork".

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Former footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of six counts of sending "grossly offensive" social media posts directed at broadcaster Jeremy Vine and television pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko.

Barton, 43, compared Aluko and Ward to the serial killer couple Fred and Rose West, and called Vine a "bike nonce" in posts sent between January and March 2024.

Jurors at Liverpool Crown Court accepted the prosecution's argument that Barton had "crossed the line between free speech and a crime" on six counts.

But they cleared the ex-Manchester City, Everton and Newcastle midfielder of six other counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

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Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar lead the nominees for the 2026 Grammy Awards, while K-Pop has broken into the song of the year category for the first time.

For the second year in a row, Compton rapper Lamar has the most nominations - nine in total - including a coveted album of the year nod for the sleek, fiery GNX.

Gaga is also up for the main prize for Mayhem, a record that leans into her own history, and marks a return to her electro-pop roots. She has seven nominations overall.

Meanwhile, two K-Pop songs are shortlisted for song of the year: Rosé and Bruno Mars' frothy pop hit APT, and Hunter/x's Golden, the breakout hit from Netflix's animated film K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Both Gaga and Lamar have five previous nominations for album of the year, but neither has ever lifted the coveted gold gramophone in that category.

If Lamar wins next February, GNX would become the first rap album to earn the night's main prize since Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2004.

He faces competition from fellow rap maverick Tyler, The Creator with his wildly inventive Chromakopia; and reunited hip-hop duo Clipse, whose Let God Sort Em Out is their first release since 2009.

It is the first time in Grammy history that three rap albums have made the shortlist for album of the year.

Also nominated is Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny - who is also set to headline next year's Super Bowl half time show.

He's shortlisted for the musically ambitious Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which fuses live instrumentation with the hip-swaying pulse of reggaeton.

British stars Olivia Dean and Lola Young have got their first ever Grammy nominations in the best new artist category, where they will compete against pop star Addison Rae and global girl group Katseye.

The nominees were revealed in a live stream by a host of stars, including 2025 winners Chappell Roan, Doechii and Sabrina Carpenter, and British stars such as Sam Smith and Marcus Mumford.

Who has the most nominations?

• Kendrick Lamar - nine
• Lady Gaga - seven
• Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Leon Thomas - six

The 'big four' awards

Song of the year

• Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
• Doechii - Anxiety
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT
• Bad Bunny - DtMF
• Hunter/x - Golden
• Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther
• Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
• Billie Eilish - Wildflower

Record of the year

• Bad Bunny - DtMF
• Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
• Doechii - Anxiety
• Billie Eilish - Wildflower
• Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
• Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther
• Chappell Roan - The Subway
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT

Album of the year

• Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos
• Justin Bieber - Swag
• Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend
• Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
• Lady Gaga - Mayhem
• Kendrick Lamar - GNX
• Leon Thomas – Mutt
• Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

Best new artist

• Olivia Dean
• Katseye
• The Marias
• Addison Rae
• Sombr
• Leon Thomas
• Alex Warren
• Lola Young

Why isn't Taylor Swift nominated?

This is the first time since 2006 that Taylor Swift hasn't been eligible for the Grammys.

The star's latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, was released in October, missing the cut-off point for nominations.

To qualify, a song or album must have been released between 31 August, 2024, and 30 August, 2025.

The Life of a Showgirl will therefore be eligible for the 2027 ceremony, and looks certain to secure Swift her eighth nomination for album of the year.

How are the Grammys decided?

Almost 23,000 entries were submitted for the 2026 Grammys awards.

The biggest field was for song of the year, which had 1,015 entries.

The least populated category was best compilation soundtrack for visual media, with just 48 entries.

Once the submissions are screened and verified, voting members take over. Nearly 15,000 musicians, critics and music industry professionals cast ballots to decide the final nominees.

After the publication of the shortlist, a final round voting will take place between 12 December and 5 January.

The winners will be announced at a star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles on 1 February 2026.

A pay package that could be worth $1 trillion has been approved for Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The mind-meltingly large number is conditional on achieving certain targets for the company - but what does one trillion actually look like?

Take our quiz to understand the scale of how the world's richest man could get richer.

A former Israeli hostage who was released last month has told Israeli TV that he was sexually assaulted during his two years in captivity in Gaza.

In an interview with Channel 13's Hazinor programme, Rom Braslavski, 21, described being stripped naked and tied up by members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

"It was sexual violence, and its main purpose was humiliation. Its goal was to humiliate me, to crush my dignity," he said.

He is the first man held hostage to allege publicly that he was sexually assaulted.

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.

Rom Braslavski was on leave from his service as a soldier in the Israeli military and was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when Hamas and allied Palestinian armed groups attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages.

Israel responded to the attacks by launching a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 68,800 people, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Four weeks ago, Mr Braslavski was among the last 20 living Israeli hostages who were released under a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In the interview with Channel 13, broadcast late on Thursday, Mr Braslavski said his treatment by PIJ deteriorated rapidly after he had refused to convert from Judaism to Islam in March this year, which was also when the previous ceasefire collapsed.

He said he was kept blindfolded for three weeks, had stones pushed into his ears to limit his hearing, and had his rations of food and water reduced.

Then, he added, his captors received what they described as an order to torture him.

Mr Braslavski said they tied him up, punched him, and whipped him with a metal cable – and that this was repeated several times a day.

"I entered into a loop, which I doubted I would come out of alive," he recalled.

In August 2025, PIJ posted a video in which Mr Braslavski was seen crying and saying that he had run out of food and water, was unable to stand or walk, and was "at death's door".

Following the publication of the video, Mr Braslavski told Channel 13, his captors also began to sexually assault him.

"They stripped me of all my clothes, my underwear, everything. They tied me up from the... When I was completely naked I was wiped out, dying without food and I prayed to God: 'Save me, get me out of this already'," he said.

When asked whether his captors did "more things like that", Mr Braslavski replied: "Yes. It's hard for me to talk about this part specifically. I don't like to talk about it. And it's hard. It was a horrific thing."

He added: "You just pray to God for it to stop. And while I was there, every day, every beating, every day, I'd say to myself: 'I survived another day in hell. Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up to another hell. And another hell'."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Mr Braslavski had shown "extraordinary courage in sharing the horrors of his captivity, including a horrific sexual assault he endured".

"The world must understand the scale of the crimes committed by the terrorists in Gaza, heinous cruelty, sexual violence, and abuse," he wrote on X.

At least four women held as hostages have spoken publicly about alleged incidents of sexual abuse against themselves or fellow captives, according to Reuters.

A PIJ official told Reuters news agency that Mr Braslavski's allegation of sexual assault was "incorrect", without elaborating.

The UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict said in March 2024 that she and a team of experts had found "convincing information" of rape and sexualised torture being committed against some hostages in Gaza. They also found reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence occurred in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape, during the 7 October attacks. Hamas said the report's findings were "baseless".

A separate report by a UN commission of inquiry in March 2025 concluded that Israel had "increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians", including "forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault". Israel called the allegations "unfounded".

Last week, the former top lawyer in the Israeli military resigned after saying she was responsible for the leaking of a video that purportedly shows soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee at a base in Israel last year. The detainee was treated for severe injuries after allegedly being stabbed in the rectum. Five soldiers have been charged over the incident.

The recent cases of prisoners being mistakenly released has put a fresh spotlight on the demands facing the justice system.

Prison overcrowding, staffing levels and government funding have all been called into question.

How many prisoners have been released by mistake?

There were 262 prisoners accidentally released in the 12 months to March 2025, compared with 115 the previous year.

Of 121 prisons across England and Wales, 72 released at least one prisoner by mistake in 2024-25.

The overall number of releases has also increased - but not by as much.

There were just over 57,000 releases of prisoners who had finished the custodial part of their sentences in England and Wales in 2024-25. This includes the period when some prisoners were released after serving 40% of their sentence.

The year before there were about 50,000 releases. That's a rise in the number of releases of about 13% - a lot lower proportionally than the increase in errors.

One in 10 released from 'escort areas'

The majority of accidental releases were from a prison itself.

Pentonville Prison in London released the most in 2024-25 - 16, up from six the year before.

To put that in context, Pentonville had a population of just under 1,200 in March 2025. So that's equivalent to letting out more than one in every 100 prisoners by mistake over the year.

Another category of mistaken release is from "escort areas" - places where prisoners are being taken between prisons, to and from court hearings or to immigration removal centres.

Around one in 10 were released in error from these areas, the figures show.

However it's not clear from the data how many had been convicted or were in prison on remand, awaiting a trial or sentencing hearing.

Staffing challenges

At the end of June 2025, there were a total of 36,627 people working in prison service establishments across England and Wales.

That's 787 fewer people than a year ago, but well above the staff numbers in previous years.

However staff turnover is an ongoing issue.

In the year to June, nearly 13% of staff left the prison service, almost twice the 7.1% turnover rate across the Civil Service.

Half had spent a year or less in the job.

Sickness rates also impact operations.

In the year to June, prison staff missed an average of12 days of work due to sickness. In two out of five cases, the absence was related to a mental health issue.

For comparison, average workers in the UK miss just over four days a year due to sickness.

Government funding

The mistaken releases have led to renewed questions over government funding for the justice system.

Former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk says the MoJ, which is responsible for prisons, the probation system, courts and legal aid, spends in a year the amount "spent by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) every two weeks".

MoJ is spending this year is around £13bn according to the National Audit Office - compared to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which spent nearly £276bn in 2023-24.

And, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, the MoJ is expected to be 5.6% smaller than it was in 2010 by the end of the current parliament.

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Dozens of people have been injured in an explosion during Friday prayers at a mosque inside a high school complex in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Fifty-four people were admitted to hospital, city police chief Asep Edi Suheri told a televised news conference, with the injuries ranging from minor to serious and including burns.

Authorities said three people had suffered serious injuries and 17 others came away with minor injuries. Others have been treated and discharged, local media reports.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police is now investigating the cause of the explosion at the site in Kelapa Gading, a district in North Jakarta, with a bomb disposal team deployed to the search area.

Images from the scene show bystanders watching on as military personnel cordon off and guard the entrance to the state-run high school complex.

The explosion occurred around 12:15 local time (05:15 GMT), according to local reports.

A high-ranking Jakarta Metropolitan Police officer confirmed the presence of two objects resembling firearms at the scene.

Images from Indonesia's government-owned news agency Antara suggest one of the objects appeared to be a submachine gun and another looked like a pistol.

The submachine gun-type object appears to be inscribed on its barrel with: "14 words. For Agartha."

On its body, it says: "Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell."

Brenton Tarrant is the perpetrator of a 2019 mass shooting at a mosque and Islamic centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 and injured dozens of others.

A minister who visited the scene later on Friday sought to dispel suggestions that weapons were present at the site, telling CNN Indonesia what had been pictured "turned out to be a toy gun, not a real gun".

Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus also called on the public not to presume the explosion was a "terrorist act" as investigators were still combing over the scene.

Another object found at the site was a dark green belt for storing gun cartridges.

A pupil at the school alleged to Antara that a homemade bomb had been brought in by a student who had often been bullied by other students.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in Vietnam on Thursday after killing at least 114 people and flooding entire towns in the Philippines.

More than 260,000 soldiers are on standby for rescue efforts as winds of up to 92mph (149km/h) hit the country's coastline, according to Vietnamese media and the government's online portal.

Six airports in the country have been forced to close and hundreds of flights are expected to be affected, the government warned.

The country, which has already been battling record rains and floods, is now facing one of Asia's strongest typhoons this year.

The typhoon could generate waves of up to 8m (26ft) on the South China Sea, according to Vietnam's weather bureau.

The country's environment ministry said on Thursday that "the storm is on land, in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai" in a statement quoted by various outlets, including the AFP news agency.

The Vietnamese national weather forecaster says hundreds of localities in seven cities and provinces are at risk of flooding and landslides in the next six hours.

There have already been reports of damage from several provinces, including roofs torn off homes, shattered glass panels at hotels, and trees uprooted or snapped along city streets and rural roads by powerful gusts.

In the Quy Non area, trees have fallen on main roads and windows in hotels have smashed.

About 30 minutes after the typhoon made landfall, hundreds of residents in two communes of Dak Lak province called for help, local media reported.

Many people reported that their homes had collapsed or been flooded, while strong winds and heavy rain continued to batter the area.

Dak Lak province is approximately 350km (215 miles) north-east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam's military has deployed more than 260,000 soldiers and personnel, along with more than 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including six aircraft, to help with storm relief efforts.

On Wednesday morning, a reporter from AFP news agency saw officials knocking on the doors of homes in coastal communities and warning people to evacuate.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh held an online meeting to direct the emergency response.

"We must reach isolated areas and ensure people have food, drinking water, and essential supplies," he was quoted as saying.

"No one should be left hungry or cold."

Before making landfall in Vietnam, the typhoon, known locally as Tino, left a trail of devastation in the Philippines.

At least 114 people were killed and tens of thousands were evacuated, particularly from central areas including the populous island and tourist hotspot of Cebu, where cars were swept through the streets.

Early on Thursday, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of emergency, the threshold of which involves mass casualty, major damage to property, and disruption to means of livelihoods and the normal way of life for people in the affected areas.

Vietnam has already been battling with floods and record rains for the past week.

Burst riverbanks have flooded some of the country's most popular tourist spots, including the Unesco-listed city of Hue and historic hotspot Hoi An, where residents have been pictured navigating the city in wooden boats after the Hoai river overflowed.

Seaside communities in Vietnam are expected to be hit hard by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

A sea-level rise of 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) in at least two provinces could capsize boats and devastate fishing farms, according to a forecast issued at 16:00 local time (9:00 GMT) by a senior official at Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Meanwhile, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Hien says Typhoon Damrey - which struck Vietnam in 2017 with less intensity than Kalmaegi, but still caused severe damage to coastal communities - should serve as a warning and urged people to remain highly alert.

Thailand is also bracing for the storm's impact. Local officials have warned of flash floods, landslides and river overflows.