A WOMAN has been charged with harassing the family of a toddler who went missing more than 30 years ago.

Donna Louise Wright is accused of using Facebook to target relatives of Katrice Lee, who disappeared on her second birthday in 1981 near a British Army base in Paderborn, Germany.

The 33-year-old from Spennymoor, County Durham, is charged with sending Katrice’s family numerous emails and postings on Facebook between December 4, 2011, and November 24 last year (2012), which amounted to harassment.

Ms Wright, of Hillside Court, was due to appear before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court this morning (January 2) but her solicitors successfully asked for the case to be adjourned.

District Judge Martin Walker said: “I would expect progress to be made on the next occasion.”

Ms Wright has been given bail on the condition that she does not visit the Facebook page set up by Katrice’s family in their hunt for her.

The bail conditions also ban Ms Wright from contacting any member of the Lee family or the administrators of the Facebook page via any means, including email.

She is also not allowed to contact anyone who posts on the Facebook page.

Ms Wright is due back before the magistrates’ court on Wednesday, January 16.

District Judge Walker said: “This is a sensitive issue of importance that has come into the public domain.

“It concerns a sad and tragic case of some age and it needs resolution.”

Katrice was out with her family shopping for party food at a NAAFI store in Schloss Neuhaus when she disappeared.

Her father Richard Lee, an Army sergeant from Hartlepool who was based at Paderborn, and mother Sharon, from Gosport, Hampshire, believe she was snatched and may still be alive.

An image of how Katrice could look now, aged 33, has been created by the National Missing Person’s helpline, a charity which helps find missing people.

More than 2,500 people have joined the Facebook page set up by Katrice’s family.

She was wearing red wellies and a green duffle coat when she went missing on November 28, 1981.