Alleged Harasser Inquired: 'However Suppose I Might Be Madeleine?'

A individual charged with pursuing Kate McCann apparently left her a recorded message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has persistently claimed she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are standing trial accused with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February the current year.

On Monday, Leicester Crown Court heard communication data and evidence recovered from phones recorded Ms Wandelt repeatedly demanding Madeleine's mother for a biological test during 2023 and 2024.

Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the age of three during a vacation in Portugal - is one of the most covered child disappearance cases and continues to be unresolved.

'I Don't Want Money'

A separate recorded message, shared in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm overweight and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I know what I believe."

While one recording of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "Imagine there is a small chance that I'm her? Then what? Wouldn't that be important for you?"

"I don't want money, I maintain a living here in Poland, I just want to understand," she added.

The jury was advised that via electronic messages, mobile messages and calls, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, sent early photographs to her phone in a attempt to show a similarity to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and stated to have "recollections" from a childhood with the McCanns.

An intelligence analyst, an investigator with law enforcement who compiled the information, informed the court there "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt additionally reached out to close associates of the McCanns, as per the phone records.

On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann responded to a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "the wrong phone."

During that incident Ms Wandelt recorded a recording on Mrs McCann's answerphone stating "I will persist and I plan to establish my point."

The court heard Mrs Spragg struck up a connection via internet with Ms Wandelt prior to assisting her on a trip to the McCanns' property in Leicestershire in December 2024.

Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had contacted via messaging service to Mrs McCann to express the press had depicted Ms Wandelt as "a crazy person" but that she ought to be treated respectfully in the period preceding the appearance to Rothley, Leicestershire, in December 2024.

The court learned communications between the two individuals, in November 2024, discussing attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her trash or from cutlery at a eating establishment.

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

On the occasion of the visit to their home, the defendant sent a text which stated: "We're currently sat near the McCanns' residence with our lights out like detectives. I desired to achieve this with Peter Andrew I never thought I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."

The trial continues.