Suspected Stalker Asked: 'But Imagine I Am Madeleine?'
A female charged with harassing Kate McCann reportedly recorded her a phone message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, who a jury heard has repeatedly asserted she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are facing charges accused with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned call records and data obtained from phones documented Ms Wandelt repeatedly demanding Madeleine's mother for a genetic test throughout the past two years.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the age of three during a trip in Portugal - is considered the most widely reported investigations and remains unresolved.
'I Don't Want Money'
A separate recorded message, played in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I understand I'm overweight and not pretty like Madeleine was, but I believe what I know."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "Imagine there is a slight possibility that I'm her? What then? Isn't that important for you?"
"I do not need money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I simply desire to know," the recording stated.
The tribunal was advised that by means of emails, SMS messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt requested a DNA test, forwarded childhood photos to her phone in a effort to show a resemblance to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and stated to have "recollections" from a early life with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an investigator with Leicestershire Police who collated the data, advised the court there "didn't appear to be any answers" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also reached out to close associates of the McCanns, according to the phone records.
On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "incorrect contact information."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt recorded a voicemail on Mrs McCann's recording saying "I won't give up and I intend to demonstrate my position."
The court heard the co-defendant developed a relationship online with Ms Wandelt prior to accompanying her on a appearance to the McCanns' residence in that area in last December.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had communicated via messaging service to Mrs McCann to say the news outlets had depicted Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she ought to be taken seriously in the time leading up to the appearance to Rothley, that area, in December 2024.
The court learned communications between the two defendants, in November 2024, discussing endeavoring to get Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her bins or from cutlery at a dining venue.
"We have to make a stand," the co-defendant informed Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the appearance to their home, Mrs Spragg sent a communication which said: "We find ourselves sitting near the McCanns' house with our headlights off similar to private investigators. I had hoped to do this with another person I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The trial proceeds.