Accused Stalker Questioned: 'Yet What If I Could Be Madeleine?'

Courtroom sketch
Karen Spragg - who a court has heard believes she is missing Madeleine McCann - deny the allegations

A individual charged with harassing Kate McCann apparently recorded her a phone message which asked: "imagine I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has persistently declared she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are on trial charged with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February this year.

Madeleine McCann photo
Madeleine McCann's vanishing has never been solved

On Monday, the court was told phone records and information obtained from phones documented Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a DNA test throughout that period.

Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most widely reported investigations and continues to be unresolved.

'I Do Not Need Money'

Another voicemail, presented in court, captured Ms Wandelt saying: "I know I'm fat and not pretty like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I feel."

While another instance of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's voicemail said: "What if there is a tiny probability that I am Madeleine? Then what? Wouldn't that be significant for you?"

"I do not need money, I possess a living here in Poland, I just want to know," the recording stated.

The tribunal was told that via emails, SMS messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a biological test, sent childhood photos to her phone in a bid to display a similarity to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and stated to have "memories" from a youth with the McCanns.

Robert Jones, an investigator with Leicestershire Police who gathered the evidence, told the court there "didn't appear to be any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt also communicated with close associates of the McCanns, as per the call data.

On 9 October 2024, the father picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "incorrect contact information."

That day Ms Wandelt left a voicemail on Mrs McCann's answerphone saying "I won't give up and I intend to demonstrate my point."

Court proceedings
Kate and Gerry McCann testified to the court from protected by a privacy screen on Wednesday

The court heard Mrs Spragg established a association through digital means with Ms Wandelt preceding assisting her on a visit to the McCanns' home in the county in that winter.

Call logs demonstrated Mrs Spragg had communicated via messaging service to Mrs McCann to express the press had depicted Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be considered genuine in the months before the appearance to Rothley, Leicestershire, in last December.

The court learned correspondence between the two accused, in November 2024, considering endeavoring to obtain Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her garbage or from silverware at a restaurant.

"We need to take action," the co-defendant told Ms Wandelt.

On the night of the visit to their house, Mrs Spragg sent a text which said: "We're currently sat outside the McCanns' home with our headlights off similar to investigators. I wanted to achieve this with another person I never thought I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The case proceeds.

John Hernandez
John Hernandez

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