Recalling the events of 7 December, Mrs McCann said: “I pulled up on the drive, it was really dark, it was the weekend – we had really bad gales.
“I was opening the boot to get stuff out and I heard ‘Kate’ – it gave me a fright.”
She added she felt “invaded in her own home”, while Mr McCann recalled “Kate was still pretty shaken”.
“She was in the house on her own, I think she felt frightened,” he said.
“We rarely get people coming to the house now, but every time you’re driving home you’re worried if someone’s going to be there – you’re nervous for the 10 seconds it takes to drive down your road.”
Mr McCann said there were people that “crazily” believed conspiracy theories, including that he and his wife Kate did not want to find their missing daughter.
He added: “That’s detrimental to any existing investigation and obviously we have always put that [the inquiry] first.”
Ms Wandelt was arrested in February after arriving at Bristol Airport, with Mrs Spragg also detained in a nearby car park.
The trial of Ms Wandelt, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, and Mrs Spragg, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, continues.