Accused Stalker Inquired: 'But Suppose I Am Madeleine?'
A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently deposited her a recorded message which questioned: "what if I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who court testimony revealed has consistently asserted she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are facing charges accused with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court was told communication data and information obtained from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test over that period.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a family holiday in Portugal - is among the most publicized investigations and remains unsolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One recorded message, shared in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I understand I'm overweight and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I believe what I believe."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone expressed: "What if there is a small chance that I'm her? What happens next? Wouldn't that be crucial for you?"
"I am not seeking money, I maintain a existence here in Poland, I simply desire to discover," the message continued.
The jury was told that via emails, SMS messages and calls, Ms Wandelt asked for a DNA test, sent childhood photos to her phone in a effort to show a similarity to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and asserted to have "recollections" from a childhood with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an investigator with the police force who collated the data, advised the court there "showed no any answers" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally contacted acquaintances of the McCanns, according to the call data.
On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann answered a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "a wrong number."
During that incident Ms Wandelt deposited a voicemail on Mrs McCann's answerphone saying "I will persist and I plan to establish my claim."
The court was informed the co-defendant established a relationship online with Ms Wandelt preceding joining her on a trip to the McCanns' property in Leicestershire in that winter.
Phone records demonstrated Mrs Spragg had contacted via communication app to Mrs McCann to say the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be treated respectfully in the time leading up to the visit to that location, Leicestershire, in December 2024.
The court heard communications between the two accused, in last November, discussing endeavoring to obtain Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her bins or from utensils at a dining venue.
"We must make a stand," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the visit to their residence, Mrs Spragg transmitted a communication which said: "We are positioned near the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark similar to private investigators. I had hoped to do this with Peter Andrew I hadn't anticipated I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The case proceeds.