Woman pleads guilty to impersonating missing girl Katrice Lee

A woman has today pleaded guilty to impersonating missing toddler Katrice Lee.

Heidi Robinson, 40, appeared at Wirral Magistrates' Court and admitted a malicious communications offence

Katrice vanished on her second birthday on November 28,1981 from the outskirts of Paderborn in Germany, near the British military base where her father Richard was stationed.

Robinson pleaded guilty to sending a message that was grossly offensive, indecent or menacing on November 3 last year.

Credit: imago stock&people/Imago/PA Images

The case was adjourned until October 30 for a pre-sentence report to beprepared, which District Judge Nicholas Sanders said should include information on the defendant's mental health.

The judge said:

Mr Lee, from Hartlepool, revealed in March that someone had been impersonating his daughter on social media and a woman would appear in court.

He has been critical of the Royal Military Police's initial investigation into his daughter's disappearance.<

Last month, military police arrested a man in connection with her disappearance and began searching a terraced house in Swindon, Wiltshire. The man was later released without charge.