Alleged Stalker Asked: 'But Imagine I Could Be Madeleine?'

A female accused with harassing Kate McCann allegedly left her a phone message which asked: "imagine I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, who witnesses stated has persistently claimed she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial indicted with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February this year.

On Monday, the tribunal heard phone records and data obtained from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test throughout that period.

Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most publicized child disappearance cases and continues to be unsolved.

'I Do Not Need Money'

One voicemail, shared in court, documented Ms Wandelt stating: "I understand I'm fat and unattractive like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I feel."

While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Suppose there is a small chance that I am Madeleine? What happens next? Wouldn't that be important for you?"

"I do not need money, I have a existence here in Poland, I simply desire to know," the recording stated.

The tribunal was told that through emails, SMS messages and calls, Ms Wandelt asked for a DNA test, sent childhood photos to her phone in a effort to demonstrate a resemblance to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and claimed to have "recollections" from a childhood with the McCanns.

The investigator, an intelligence analyst with the police force who collated the evidence, advised the court there "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt furthermore reached out to acquaintances of the McCanns, according to the communication logs.

On that date, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "incorrect contact information."

During that incident Ms Wandelt left a message on Mrs McCann's answerphone saying "I won't give up and I will prove my claim."

The court learned the co-defendant developed a association via internet with Ms Wandelt preceding accompanying her on a appearance to the McCanns' residence in the county in that winter.

Phone records demonstrated Mrs Spragg had communicated through messaging service to Mrs McCann to express the press had characterized Ms Wandelt as "a crazy person" but that she ought to be taken seriously in the period before the visit to the village, that area, in last December.

The court learned communications between the two defendants, in November 2024, considering attempting to get Mrs McCann's genetic material from her bins or from utensils at a restaurant.

"We must assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.

On the evening of the appearance to their home, the defendant dispatched a communication which stated: "We are sat adjacent to the McCanns' house with our lights out resembling investigators. I had hoped to accomplish this with another person I hadn't anticipated I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."

The trial proceeds.