Accused Stalker Inquired: 'However What If I Could Be Madeleine?'
A female accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently recorded her a recorded message which asked: "suppose I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, twenty-four, who a jury heard has repeatedly claimed she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial accused with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, the tribunal heard phone records and data recovered from phones recorded Ms Wandelt consistently asking Madeleine's mother for a biological test over the past two years.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - at the age of three during a trip in Portugal - is among the most widely reported child disappearance cases and remains unresolved.
'I Don't Want Money'
A separate recorded message, shared in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I know I'm heavy and not pretty like Madeleine had been, but I believe what I believe."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's answerphone said: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I am Madeleine? Then what? Is that not important for you?"
"I do not need money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I only wish to know," the recording stated.
The jury was told that by means of emails, text messages and communications, Ms Wandelt demanded a DNA test, forwarded childhood photos to her phone in a bid to demonstrate a similarity to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and stated to have "recollections" from a early life with the McCanns.
The investigator, an intelligence analyst with law enforcement who compiled the evidence, told the court there "didn't appear to be any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also reached out to close associates of the McCanns, based on the call data.
On that date, Mr McCann responded to a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "incorrect contact information."
That day Ms Wandelt deposited a voicemail on Mrs McCann's recording declaring "I will continue and I plan to establish my point."
The court heard the co-defendant struck up a connection online with Ms Wandelt before joining her on a trip to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in December 2024.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had reached out through messaging service to Mrs McCann to express the press had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she deserved to be considered genuine in the time leading up to the trip to that location, that area, in December 2024.
The court learned communications between the two defendants, in that autumn, planning trying to acquire Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her garbage or from cutlery at a eating establishment.
"We must make a stand," Mrs Spragg informed Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the trip to their home, Mrs Spragg dispatched a communication which said: "We find ourselves positioned adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark like detectives. I desired to accomplish this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The proceedings proceeds.
