A Real Housewives of Cheshire actress pretended to be a woman who has been missing for decades since she was two in a “disgusting” act .
Heidi Robinson, 40, claimed she was Katrice Lee, who vanished on her second birthday on November 28, 1981.
She even sent Katrice’s family friend requests on Facebook , adamant she was the missing woman.
But yesterday, Robinson appeared at Wirral Magistrates’ Court to admit the heartless offence. She’ll be sentenced on October 30.
Katrice’s furious sister Natasha Walker, 45, slammed the TV extra.
Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Walker said: “I am relieved she has finally admitted guilt.
“I have put in a formal complaint to the police as I feel I have been treated disgustingly. It appears that if you commit a crime you are better supported.
“The impact this has had on my mental health has been pretty horrific. My feelings have never been taken into consideration.”
Katrice disappeared at a supermarket with her mother Sharon on an Army base in Paderborn, Germany, where her Sergeant Major father was stationed.
Almost four decades on, Katrice has not been found, despite a string of searches in the German town and an arrest being made last month in connection with the disappearance.
Robinson has become the latest in a string of heartless people impersonating Katrice.
But the defendant, from Wirral, Merseyside, claimed she has suffered psychosis and genuinely thought she was Katrice.
Speaking after her case was adjourned, Robinson said: “I actually believed completely that I was Katrice. I’d had mental health issues leading up to the situation.
“I was then at the time experiencing what I now know to be psychosis.
“I really didn’t intend to hurt the family but as I know my actions have done that, I am deeply sorry and that is why I have pleaded guilty.
“I am now getting help and I apologise sincerely to the Lee family and my family.”
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The Lee family have been critical of a string of failings by the Royal Military Police, who did not notify local hospitals of an eye condition the toddler had and only treated the case as a missing person inquiry.
In 2012, the Ministry of Defence apologised for its ‘flawed investigations’ and a review team was appointed to reassess the case.
Last month, military police arrested and released without charge an ex-serviceman in connection with her disappearance and began searching a terraced house in Swindon, Wiltshire.