Suspected Stalker Inquired: 'However What If I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with harassing Kate McCann allegedly recorded her a phone message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who court testimony revealed has consistently claimed she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are on trial charged with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February the current year.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court was told phone records and evidence recovered from phones recorded Ms Wandelt consistently requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test during that period.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - when she was three years old during a trip in Portugal - is among the most covered child disappearance cases and remains unresolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One phone message, played in court, documented Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm fat and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I believe what I know."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "What if there is a small chance that I am Madeleine? Then what? Is that not significant for you?"
"I don't want money, I maintain a living here in Poland, I only wish to understand," the recording stated.
The jury was informed that through electronic messages, SMS messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt demanded a biological test, transmitted youth pictures to her phone in a effort to display a similarity 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 "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally contacted family friends of the McCanns, as per the phone records.
On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann picked up a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."
That day Ms Wandelt recorded a recording on Mrs McCann's recording saying "I will continue and I intend to demonstrate my claim."
The court was informed the co-defendant established a association via internet with Ms Wandelt preceding joining her on a visit to the McCanns' property in that area in that winter.
Communication data demonstrated Mrs Spragg had reached out through messaging service to Mrs McCann to state the press had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be taken seriously in the period preceding the trip to that location, the county, in that winter.
The court was told communications between the two individuals, in that autumn, discussing trying to acquire Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her bins or from utensils at a dining venue.
"We need to assert ourselves," the co-defendant told Ms Wandelt.
On the evening of the visit to their residence, the defendant sent a communication which said: "We are sat near the McCanns' home with our vehicle dark resembling investigators. I desired to do this with Peter Andrew I never thought I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The trial ongoing.
