Suspected Stalker Inquired: 'However What If I Might Be Madeleine?'
A female accused with pursuing Kate McCann allegedly left her a recorded message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has repeatedly declared she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are standing trial charged with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court heard phone records and evidence obtained from phones logged Ms Wandelt persistently demanding Madeleine's mother for a DNA test during 2023 and 2024.
Madeleine's case in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is among the most covered missing child cases and continues to be unresolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
A separate voicemail, shared in court, captured Ms Wandelt saying: "I understand I'm fat and plain like Madeleine was, but I believe what I know."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's voicemail said: "Suppose there is a small chance that I am Madeleine? What then? Is that not crucial for you?"
"I do not need money, I possess a living here in Poland, I only wish to discover," the message continued.
The jury was informed that through emails, mobile messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a DNA test, transmitted early photographs to her phone in a bid to display a likeness to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.
The investigator, an intelligence analyst with law enforcement who gathered the data, advised the court there "didn't appear to be any responses" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally reached out to acquaintances of the McCanns, according to the call data.
On that date, the father picked up a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "the wrong phone."
During that incident Ms Wandelt recorded a message on Mrs McCann's recording declaring "I will persist and I will prove my claim."
The court heard Mrs Spragg developed a association online with Ms Wandelt preceding accompanying her on a appearance to the McCanns' residence in the county in last December.
Communication data showed Mrs Spragg had contacted using WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to express the media had characterized Ms Wandelt as "a crazy person" but that she should be considered genuine in the months preceding the appearance to that location, Leicestershire, in December 2024.
The court learned communications between the two individuals, in November 2024, discussing attempting to get Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from cutlery at a restaurant.
"We must make a stand," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their residence, the defendant transmitted a communication which said: "We are sitting outside the McCanns' house with our headlights off like private investigators. I desired to achieve this with someone else I never thought I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The case proceeds.
