Jail at last for woman who claimed to be Richard’s lost child

Daughter Katrice went missing in 1981.

A father whose evidence helped jail an evil internet troll who pretended to be his missing daughter says he’d have been broken without the support of his army pals.

Richard Lee, an ex-Kings Royal Hussar, has waited three years to see Donna Wright face justice for posting sick messages saying she was his beloved Katrice.

The cruel messages initially gave Richard hope of finding his daughter, who went missing from near a military base in Germany in 1981.

Wright who was jailed for eight weeks on Thursday emerged out of the blue and claimed to be the missing girl. However, her fake claims were shattered when a DNA test proved she was not missing Katrice. Incredibly, after her deception was exposed, she piled more misery on Richard’s family when she turned nasty and broke a court order not to contact them.

Last night, relieved Richard, 64, said he is pleased the ordeal is over. “It has been horrendous,” he said. “She has shown no remorse and given no apology for what she’s put my family through and it has taken three years for justice to be done.

“But I don’t think I’d have been able to focus without the army lads who helped search for Katrice being there to support me. They all know what happened, they didn’t have to tell me they were there for me. There is just this unspoken bond.”

Eddie Williamson, 65, a former Provost Sergeant in Richard’s regiment, was one former comrade who supported his pal throughout his ordeal. Others made the trip to Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court, County Durham some who hadn’t seen Richard for 35 years.

Mr Williamson, who was in court to see Wright jailed, said: “We were all involved in the search for Katrice. We were all out searching, checking streams and fields. We know what an impact still not knowing where she is has had on Richard.

“We still believe, even today, that she was abducted and can only hope and pray that she is found.”

Katrice vanished from a Naafi army supply store in Paderborn, Germany, on November 28, 1981, her second birthday. The toddler had been shopping with mum Sharon and her aunty Wendy for her party on the day she disappeared.

Richard, ex-wife Sharon and their other daughter Natasha have spent more than three decades looking for Katrice, who would now be 34. Their hopes were raised when Wright, also 34, of Cornforth, County Durham, answered a fresh appeal for information in 2011 claiming to be the missing daughter. But she began sending spiteful messages over Facebook and phoning Richard and his family after a DNA test proved she was not who she claimed to be.

In December, Wright posted a picture of her own daughter on Facebook. She then called Richard’s land line, asking “Are you Mr Lee, the father of Katrice?” and asked why he had put a picture of an 11-year-old on Facebook.

Richard recognised her voice and told her the call would be traced. She verbally abused him before hanging up then bombarded him with calls throughout the night. After eight court hearings and sacking her solicitor, Wright finally admitted harassment.

Phone records collected from Richard’s land line at his Hartlepool home provided conclusive proof she had contacted him.

Reading a moving victim impact statement to the court, Richard said: “To seek my phone number and bombard me with abuse is despicable. If I can ask you to walk in my shoes for just one day, as I have walked for the last 32 years, then maybe, just maybe, you can understand the depths of feeling I have towards this individual.

“If I have one question for Miss Wright, it would simply be, ‘what has this family ever done to you?’”

Wright’s solicitor Viv Waugh, told last week’s court hearing her client had “clear mental health issues”. She said Wright would lose her sheltered accommodation and support workers if she was sent to prison. But District Judge Martin Walker ordered her to serve 14 weeks behind bars after she previously receiving a suspended sentence last year for harassing Natasha and Sharon.

Richard last night hit out at the length of her sentence.

He said: “She will probably only serve seven weeks because her solicitor argued that she has mental health issues. But she is a nasty and evil person.

“It is difficult to feel any emotion for her, other than anger.”