Alleged Stalker Asked: 'Yet What If I Might Be Madeleine?'

A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently deposited her a phone message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has consistently asserted she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are facing charges indicted with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February the current year.

On Monday, Leicester Crown Court was told communication data and evidence retrieved from phones recorded Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test throughout that period.

Madeleine's case in 2007 - when she was three years old during a trip in Portugal - is considered the most widely reported child disappearance cases and remains open.

'I Don't Want Money'

A separate recorded message, presented in court, documented Ms Wandelt stating: "I know I'm fat and unattractive like Madeleine used to be, but I believe what I feel."

While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I'm her? What then? Isn't that important for you?"

"I am not seeking money, I possess a existence here in Poland, I only wish to know," she added.

The tribunal was told that via electronic messages, text messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt demanded a DNA test, forwarded early photographs to her phone in a bid to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and asserted to have "recollections" from a early life with the McCanns.

An intelligence analyst, a data specialist with law enforcement who collated the data, told the court there "didn't appear to be any replies" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt furthermore contacted family friends of the McCanns, according to the call data.

On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."

That day Ms Wandelt deposited a message on Mrs McCann's recording saying "I won't give up and I will prove my point."

The court was informed the co-defendant struck up a association through digital means with Ms Wandelt before accompanying her on a trip to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in that winter.

Call logs revealed Mrs Spragg had communicated via communication app to Mrs McCann to say the news outlets had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be treated respectfully in the months before the visit to Rothley, Leicestershire, in December 2024.

The court was told communications between the two defendants, in November 2024, discussing trying to get Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her garbage or from utensils at a eating establishment.

"We have to assert ourselves," the co-defendant informed Ms Wandelt.

On the evening of the appearance to their home, the defendant dispatched a message which said: "We find ourselves sat adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our lights out similar to private investigators. I desired to accomplish this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The case proceeds.