Alleged Stalker Questioned: 'However What If I Could Be Madeleine?'
A female charged with harassing Kate McCann allegedly recorded her a voicemail message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who court testimony revealed has persistently claimed she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are on trial charged with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court heard phone records and information obtained from phones recorded Ms Wandelt consistently asking Madeleine's mother for a biological test over that period.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is considered the most publicized child disappearance cases and remains unresolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One voicemail, presented in court, documented Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm overweight and plain like Madeleine was, but I feel what I feel."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Suppose there is a slight possibility that I am she? What then? Is that not crucial for you?"
"I do not need money, I have a existence here in Poland, I simply desire to discover," the message continued.
The tribunal was told that by means of emails, text messages and calls, Ms Wandelt demanded a biological test, forwarded childhood photos to her phone in a attempt to show a likeness to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an investigator with the police force who compiled the evidence, informed the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt furthermore communicated with close associates of the McCanns, as per the phone records.
On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "incorrect contact information."
That day Ms Wandelt deposited a recording on Mrs McCann's voicemail saying "I will persist and I will prove my claim."
The court heard Mrs Spragg struck up a connection through digital means with Ms Wandelt before assisting her on a trip to the McCanns' property in the county in December 2024.
Call logs showed Mrs Spragg had reached out through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to say the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she ought to be considered genuine in the time before the appearance to that location, that area, in that winter.
The court was told correspondence between the two defendants, in last November, discussing attempting to get Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her bins or from utensils at a dining venue.
"We have to make a stand," the co-defendant informed Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the appearance to their residence, Mrs Spragg sent a communication which expressed: "We find ourselves positioned near the McCanns' house with our vehicle dark like investigators. I wanted to do this with another person I never thought I would be doing that with the McCanns."
The trial proceeds.
