Alleged Harasser Questioned: 'Yet What If I Am Madeleine?'
A female indicted with pursuing Kate McCann apparently left her a recorded message which posed: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who a jury heard has persistently asserted she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned call records and data obtained from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently demanding Madeleine's mother for a biological test during 2023 and 2024.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - when she was three years old during a trip in Portugal - is among the most covered missing child cases and is still unresolved.
'I Do Not Need Money'
Another voicemail, played in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I realize I'm heavy and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I believe what I know."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Suppose there is a slight possibility that I'm her? Then what? Is that not significant for you?"
"I do not need money, I have a living here in Poland, I simply desire to discover," the recording stated.
The tribunal was advised that through emails, SMS messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt asked for a DNA test, transmitted youth pictures to her phone in a bid to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and asserted to have "memories" from a early life with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an intelligence analyst with the police force who collated the evidence, told the court there "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally contacted acquaintances of the McCanns, according to the communication logs.
On October 9th, 2024, Gerry McCann responded to a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "a wrong number."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt deposited a recording on Mrs McCann's answerphone stating "I won't give up and I plan to establish my position."
The court learned Mrs Spragg developed a connection online with Ms Wandelt prior to assisting her on a trip to the McCanns' property in that area in December 2024.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had contacted using communication app to Mrs McCann to state the media had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be taken seriously in the time leading up to the trip to Rothley, that area, in December 2024.
The court heard correspondence between the two defendants, in that autumn, considering attempting to get Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her garbage or from silverware at a restaurant.
"We have to take action," the co-defendant advised Ms Wandelt.
On the evening of the trip to their residence, Mrs Spragg transmitted a communication which stated: "We are sitting outside the McCanns' house with our headlights off resembling investigators. I desired to do this with Peter Andrew I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The case ongoing.