Alleged Harasser Questioned: 'However Imagine I Could Be Madeleine?'
A woman indicted with stalking Kate McCann reportedly left her a phone message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who court testimony revealed has persistently claimed she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court heard call records and data obtained from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently demanding Madeleine's mother for a genetic test throughout 2023 and 2024.
Madeleine's case in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is among the most widely reported child disappearance cases and continues to be unsolved.
'I Don't Want Money'
One phone message, shared in court, documented Ms Wandelt stating: "I know I'm overweight and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I believe what I believe."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I'm her? What happens next? Is that not crucial for you?"
"I don't want money, I have a existence here in Poland, I just want to understand," the message continued.
The panel was told that by means of electronic messages, mobile messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt asked for a DNA test, transmitted youth pictures to her phone in a effort to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and claimed to have "flashbacks" from a early life with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, a data specialist with law enforcement who collated the information, advised the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt furthermore contacted acquaintances of the McCanns, based on the call data.
On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann picked up a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "incorrect contact information."
During that incident Ms Wandelt recorded a recording on Mrs McCann's answerphone saying "I will persist and I intend to demonstrate my point."
The court was informed Mrs Spragg established a relationship through digital means with Ms Wandelt preceding accompanying her on a visit to the McCanns' home in the county in that winter.
Call logs demonstrated Mrs Spragg had reached out using messaging service to Mrs McCann to state the news outlets had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be considered genuine in the period leading up to the appearance to that location, the county, in that winter.
The court was told message exchanges between the two individuals, in last November, considering endeavoring to acquire Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her bins or from utensils at a restaurant.
"We need to assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their house, Mrs Spragg dispatched a message which said: "We are positioned near the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark like detectives. I had hoped to do this with another person I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The case proceeds.
