Suspected Stalker Inquired: 'However Imagine I Might Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently deposited her a phone message which asked: "suppose I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who a jury heard has repeatedly claimed she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are standing trial accused with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
On Monday, the court learned phone records and evidence recovered from phones logged Ms Wandelt repeatedly asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test during the past two years.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is one of the most publicized child disappearance cases and continues to be open.
'I Don't Want Money'
One phone message, presented in court, captured Ms Wandelt saying: "I understand I'm heavy and not pretty like Madeleine had been, but I feel what I feel."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's voicemail said: "What if there is a tiny probability that I am she? Then what? Wouldn't that be important for you?"
"I do not need money, I maintain a living here in Poland, I only wish to discover," the recording stated.
The tribunal was advised that by means of emails, SMS messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, transmitted youth pictures to her phone in a bid to demonstrate a likeness to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and claimed to have "recollections" from a youth with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, an investigator with law enforcement who compiled the evidence, informed the court there "seemed to lack any answers" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also reached out to family friends of the McCanns, as per the communication logs.
On October 9th, 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "the wrong phone."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt left a message on Mrs McCann's answerphone saying "I won't give up and I intend to demonstrate my position."
The court was informed the co-defendant established a connection via internet with Ms Wandelt prior to joining her on a visit to the McCanns' property in the county in last December.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had contacted through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to express the news outlets had depicted Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be taken seriously in the time before the trip to that location, Leicestershire, in that winter.
The court learned message exchanges between the two individuals, in last November, discussing attempting to get Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from silverware at a restaurant.
"We have to make a stand," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their house, Mrs Spragg sent a text which expressed: "We are sitting near the McCanns' house with our lights out resembling investigators. I wanted to accomplish this with someone else I never thought I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The case continues.
