Alleged Stalker Asked: 'But What If I Could Be Madeleine?'

A female accused with pursuing Kate McCann allegedly recorded her a phone message which questioned: "what if I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, 24, who witnesses stated has persistently asserted she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are facing charges charged with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.

On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned call records and data recovered from phones documented Ms Wandelt repeatedly demanding Madeleine's mother for a DNA test throughout 2023 and 2024.

Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is one of the most covered investigations and is still unresolved.

'I Don't Want Money'

One phone message, shared in court, recorded Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm heavy and not pretty like Madeleine was, but I know 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? What happens next? Is that not significant for you?"

"I am not seeking money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I only wish to know," the message continued.

The tribunal was informed that by means of emails, mobile messages and calls, Ms Wandelt demanded a genetic test, forwarded early photographs to her phone in a attempt to display a similarity to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.

Robert Jones, an investigator with the police force who gathered the information, told the court there "showed no any answers" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt also reached out to acquaintances of the McCanns, as per the call data.

On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann picked up a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "a wrong number."

On that occasion Ms Wandelt recorded a voicemail on Mrs McCann's answerphone stating "I will persist and I intend to demonstrate my claim."

The court learned the co-defendant struck up a connection via internet with Ms Wandelt before assisting her on a appearance to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in that winter.

Communication data revealed Mrs Spragg had reached out through messaging service to Mrs McCann to say the media had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be considered genuine in the months preceding the visit to the village, Leicestershire, in December 2024.

The court was told correspondence between the two defendants, in that autumn, discussing trying to acquire Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from utensils at a dining venue.

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

On the occasion of the visit to their home, the defendant sent a communication which expressed: "We are positioned outside the McCanns' residence with our lights out resembling private investigators. I desired to do this with another person I never thought I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The trial proceeds.