Suspected Stalker Questioned: 'However What If I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann reportedly recorded her a phone message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has consistently declared she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned communication data and evidence obtained from phones documented Ms Wandelt persistently requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test during the past two years.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a trip in Portugal - is considered the most covered child disappearance cases and continues to be open.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One phone message, presented in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I realize I'm overweight and not pretty like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I know."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I'm her? What happens next? Wouldn't that be significant for you?"
"I am not seeking money, I maintain a living here in Poland, I only wish to know," the recording stated.
The panel was informed that by means of electronic messages, text messages and calls, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, forwarded early photographs to her phone in a effort to demonstrate a resemblance to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a early life with the McCanns.
The investigator, an investigator with the police force who collated the data, informed the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also reached out to family friends of the McCanns, based on the communication logs.
On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann answered a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."
During that incident Ms Wandelt deposited a voicemail on Mrs McCann's recording declaring "I will persist and I plan to establish my claim."
The court learned Mrs Spragg struck up a association through digital means with Ms Wandelt prior to assisting her on a appearance to the McCanns' home in Leicestershire in last December.
Communication data revealed Mrs Spragg had reached out through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to say the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "a crazy person" but that she ought to be treated respectfully in the time preceding the trip to the village, Leicestershire, in December 2024.
The court heard communications between the two individuals, in last November, discussing trying to acquire Mrs McCann's genetic material from her garbage or from utensils at a eating establishment.
"We must assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their residence, Mrs Spragg sent a message which expressed: "We find ourselves positioned near the McCanns' home with our lights out similar to investigators. I had hoped to accomplish this with Peter Andrew I hadn't anticipated I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The proceedings proceeds.
