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

Courtroom sketch
Karen Spragg - according to court testimony claims she is disappeared Madeleine McCann - dispute the accusations

A woman indicted with pursuing Kate McCann allegedly recorded her a voicemail message which questioned: "suppose I am Madeleine?"

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

Madeleine McCann photo
Madeleine McCann's vanishing has not yet been solved

On Monday, the court was told phone records and data recovered from phones logged Ms Wandelt consistently demanding Madeleine's mother for a DNA test during the past two years.

Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the age of three during a trip in Portugal - is one of the most covered missing child cases and remains open.

'I Am Not Seeking Money'

One voicemail, played in court, documented Ms Wandelt stating: "I realize I'm fat and plain like Madeleine was, but I feel what I know."

While another instance of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's voicemail said: "What if there is a tiny probability that I am she? What then? Isn't that important for you?"

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

The tribunal was advised that through emails, text messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt requested a DNA test, transmitted early photographs to her phone in a effort to show a likeness to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and asserted to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.

An intelligence analyst, an intelligence analyst with Leicestershire Police who gathered the data, told the court there "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.

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

On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "incorrect contact information."

That day Ms Wandelt recorded a recording on Mrs McCann's answerphone declaring "I will persist and I plan to establish my claim."

Court proceedings
Kate and Gerry McCann gave evidence to the court from behind a privacy screen on Wednesday

The court was informed Mrs Spragg developed a connection online with Ms Wandelt before assisting her on a visit to the McCanns' property in that area in December 2024.

Communication data revealed Mrs Spragg had contacted using communication app to Mrs McCann to say the media had characterized Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she ought to be considered genuine in the months before the visit to that location, the county, in last December.

The court was told correspondence between the two defendants, in last November, considering attempting to acquire Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her garbage or from silverware at a dining venue.

"We have to make a stand," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.

On the night of the appearance to their residence, Mrs Spragg dispatched a text which expressed: "We find ourselves sitting adjacent to the McCanns' house with our lights out like investigators. I had hoped to achieve this with someone else I hadn't anticipated I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The case proceeds.

Yesenia Brandt
Yesenia Brandt

A passionate architect and sustainability advocate with over a decade of experience in green building design and eco-conscious construction practices.