Suspected Harasser Inquired: 'However Suppose I Might Be Madeleine?'
A female charged with stalking Kate McCann allegedly deposited her a recorded message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who witnesses stated has persistently declared she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are standing trial indicted with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned phone records and evidence recovered from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently requesting Madeleine's mother for a DNA test over that period.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a trip in Portugal - is one of the most publicized investigations and continues to be unresolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
A separate voicemail, played in court, recorded Ms Wandelt stating: "I understand I'm heavy and not pretty like Madeleine was, but I feel what I feel."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's voicemail expressed: "Imagine there is a slight possibility that I'm her? What then? Is that not crucial for you?"
"I don't want money, I possess a living here in Poland, I only wish to understand," the recording stated.
The jury was informed that via electronic messages, mobile messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, transmitted childhood photos to her phone in a attempt to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and asserted to have "flashbacks" from a childhood with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, a data specialist with Leicestershire Police who collated the data, advised the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also communicated with acquaintances of the McCanns, based on the phone records.
On October 9th, 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "the wrong phone."
During that incident Ms Wandelt recorded a voicemail on Mrs McCann's voicemail saying "I won't give up and I plan to establish my claim."
The court heard Mrs Spragg established a relationship through digital means with Ms Wandelt prior to joining her on a visit to the McCanns' residence in that area in December 2024.
Communication data showed Mrs Spragg had communicated through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to state the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she should be taken seriously in the time before the visit to that location, that area, in that winter.
The court learned correspondence between the two accused, in November 2024, considering trying to acquire Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from silverware at a eating establishment.
"We have to make a stand," the co-defendant advised Ms Wandelt.
On the evening of the trip to their house, Mrs Spragg dispatched a message which said: "We're currently positioned near the McCanns' residence with our headlights off similar to investigators. I wanted to accomplish this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The trial continues.
