Suspected Harasser Questioned: 'But What If I Might Be Madeleine?'
A woman charged with harassing Kate McCann allegedly left her a recorded message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, who a jury heard has persistently declared she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial accused with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February this year.
On Monday, the court learned phone records and information retrieved from phones documented Ms Wandelt consistently asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test during the past two years.
Madeleine's case in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is considered the most widely reported investigations and continues to be open.
'I Do Not Need Money'
A separate recorded message, presented in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I realize I'm fat and not pretty like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I believe."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone said: "What if there is a tiny probability that I am Madeleine? What then? Wouldn't that be important for you?"
"I do not need money, I have a life here in Poland, I simply desire to understand," she added.
The panel was advised that via emails, text messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, forwarded youth pictures to her phone in a attempt to demonstrate a resemblance to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and claimed to have "recollections" from a youth with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an intelligence analyst with the police force who compiled the data, advised the court there "showed no any responses" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally communicated with close associates of the McCanns, based on the call data.
On October 9th, 2024, the father answered a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt recorded a message on Mrs McCann's answerphone declaring "I won't give up and I plan to establish my position."
The court learned Mrs Spragg struck up a connection via internet with Ms Wandelt prior to joining her on a visit to the McCanns' home in that area in that winter.
Phone records demonstrated Mrs Spragg had reached out via messaging service to Mrs McCann to state the press had characterized Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she deserved to be treated respectfully in the months preceding the visit to the village, the county, in that winter.
The court heard correspondence between the two accused, in November 2024, planning attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her bins or from cutlery at a dining venue.
"We must assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the visit to their house, the defendant transmitted a message which expressed: "We're currently sat adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our headlights off resembling investigators. I desired to accomplish this with another person I hadn't anticipated I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The trial proceeds.