Accused Stalker Asked: 'However What If I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman indicted with harassing Kate McCann reportedly left her a recorded message which questioned: "what if I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has repeatedly claimed she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February this year.
On Monday, the court heard call records and data retrieved from phones logged Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a DNA test over 2023 and 2024.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most publicized investigations and continues to be open.
'I Do Not Need Money'
One recorded message, presented in court, documented Ms Wandelt saying: "I understand I'm fat and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I know what I believe."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Suppose there is a small chance that I am Madeleine? What then? Isn't that crucial for you?"
"I do not need money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I only wish to understand," the message continued.
The tribunal was told that by means of emails, mobile messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, forwarded youth pictures to her phone in a bid to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and claimed to have "recollections" from a youth with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, an intelligence analyst with law enforcement who gathered the evidence, informed the court there "didn't appear to be any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt furthermore contacted acquaintances of the McCanns, based on the call data.
On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann responded to a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "a wrong number."
During that incident Ms Wandelt deposited a voicemail on Mrs McCann's answerphone declaring "I will persist and I intend to demonstrate my position."
The court learned the co-defendant struck up a relationship through digital means with Ms Wandelt prior to joining her on a trip to the McCanns' property in the county in December 2024.
Communication data showed Mrs Spragg had reached out via WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to say the media had depicted Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she ought to be taken seriously in the period preceding the appearance to that location, the county, in that winter.
The court heard message exchanges between the two defendants, in November 2024, discussing attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from silverware at a dining venue.
"We need to assert ourselves," the co-defendant told Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the trip to their home, Mrs Spragg transmitted a message which stated: "We are positioned outside the McCanns' home with our lights out like private investigators. I wanted to achieve this with Peter Andrew I didn't imagine I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The proceedings ongoing.
