🔗 Share this article

A female indicted with harassing Kate McCann allegedly deposited her a recorded message which questioned: "what if I am Madeleine?"

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, who a jury heard has repeatedly claimed she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial indicted with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.

On Monday, the court learned phone records and evidence retrieved from phones logged Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a biological test over the past two years.

Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is considered the most covered missing child cases and continues to be unresolved.

'I Do Not Need Money'

Another voicemail, shared in court, recorded Ms Wandelt stating: "I realize I'm heavy and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I know what I know."

While another instance of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "Suppose there is a slight possibility that I'm her? Then what? Is that not important for you?"

"I am not seeking money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I just want to understand," she added.

The panel was advised that through emails, text messages and communications, Ms Wandelt asked for a DNA test, sent youth pictures to her phone in a attempt to display a resemblance to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and stated to have "flashbacks" from a youth with the McCanns.

An intelligence analyst, an intelligence analyst with Leicestershire Police who compiled the information, advised the court there "didn't appear to be any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt additionally communicated with family friends of the McCanns, as per the phone records.

On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann answered a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "the wrong phone."

On that occasion Ms Wandelt deposited a message on Mrs McCann's voicemail saying "I will persist and I plan to establish my claim."

The court heard the co-defendant developed a association through digital means with Ms Wandelt before joining her on a appearance to the McCanns' home in that area in December 2024.

Call logs showed Mrs Spragg had reached out via WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to express the press had depicted Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be treated respectfully in the period before the visit to that location, the county, in December 2024.

The court heard communications between the two accused, in last November, discussing trying to obtain Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from cutlery at a dining venue.

"We need to make a stand," the co-defendant told Ms Wandelt.

On the evening of the trip to their residence, Mrs Spragg transmitted a communication which stated: "We are sat adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark similar to investigators. I had hoped to accomplish this with someone else I never thought I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."

The case proceeds.