Internet Troll Spared Jail After Posing as Family's Missing Daughter in 'Evil' Stunt

A family targeted by a Facebook hoaxer spoke of their outrage after she was spared a prison sentence for pretending to be their missing daughter.

Donna Wright pretended to be Katrice, the two-year-old daughter of Sharon and Richard Lee, who went missing in 1981.

After being unmasked as a hoaxer by DNA tests which proved she was lying, 33-year-old Wright began sending the parents of the missing toddler insults on Facebook.

"You silly old bitch, you thought you had seen harassment. You have not seen harassment yet," Wright posted on Facebook.

In another message, she blamed the Lees for their daughter's disappearance, saying: "You make me sick."

Wright admitted harassment without violence and received a restraining order as well as a suspended 12-week jail sentence. She was told to pay £200 compensation each to Katrice's mother and sister.

District Judge Martin Walker said Wright, who has been diagnosed as bipolar, "must have known of the pain and grief suffered by the sister and mother of Katrice."

Mr Lee told the Daily Mail: "I do not believe Donna Wright got her just deserts. I had hoped for a prison sentence.

"It will not be long before she is at it again. She has put my family through purgatory. I would ask her to put herself in my shoes just for one day."

Katrice went missing in 1981 when her mother was buying crisps at a shop near the army base in Paderborn, Germany, where her father was stationed with the King's Royal Hussars.

The couple believed their child was abducted and set up a Facebook page dedicated to her, seeking information on what happened to Katrice.

Their hopes were raised when Wright made contact on Facebook in December 2011 to say she might be their daughter.

Katrice's sister Natasha Lee wrote a victim statement which described Wright as "pure evil".

She said: "I am filled with dread every time I log on to Facebook in case I have a message from her.

"It is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night."