Alleged Stalker Asked: 'But Imagine I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with harassing Kate McCann allegedly left her a recorded message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, who witnesses stated has consistently claimed she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are facing charges accused with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court was told call records and data recovered from phones logged Ms Wandelt persistently requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test over that period.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is one of the most covered investigations and remains open.
'I Don't Want Money'
Another voicemail, shared in court, documented Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm overweight and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I know what I know."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Suppose there is a slight possibility that I'm her? What happens next? Isn't that crucial for you?"
"I don't want money, I maintain a living here in Poland, I simply desire to discover," the recording stated.
The jury was advised that via electronic messages, text messages and calls, Ms Wandelt demanded a genetic test, transmitted youth pictures to her phone in a attempt to show a likeness to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and stated to have "memories" from a youth with the McCanns.
The investigator, a data specialist with Leicestershire Police who collated the evidence, informed the court there "didn't appear to be any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally contacted family friends of the McCanns, based on the communication logs.
On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann responded to a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."
That day Ms Wandelt left a voicemail on Mrs McCann's recording declaring "I will persist and I plan to establish my claim."
The court learned Mrs Spragg established a connection via internet with Ms Wandelt prior to accompanying her on a visit to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in that winter.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had reached out via WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to state the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be taken seriously in the months preceding the visit to the village, the county, in December 2024.
The court learned correspondence between the two defendants, in that autumn, discussing attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her bins or from cutlery at a restaurant.
"We have to assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg informed Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the visit to their residence, Mrs Spragg transmitted a communication which expressed: "We find ourselves sitting adjacent to the McCanns' house with our vehicle dark resembling investigators. I had hoped to do this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The case ongoing.
