🔗 Share this article

A individual indicted with pursuing Kate McCann apparently deposited her a recorded message which asked: "what if I am Madeleine?"

The defendant, twenty-four, who witnesses stated has repeatedly declared she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are on trial charged with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February this year.

On Monday, Leicester Crown Court learned phone records and evidence retrieved from phones logged Ms Wandelt persistently asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test over 2023 and 2024.

Madeleine's case in 2007 - at the age of three during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most widely reported child disappearance cases and is still open.

'I Do Not Need Money'

One voicemail, played in court, recorded Ms Wandelt saying: "I know I'm heavy and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I believe what I know."

While another instance of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I am Madeleine? What then? Isn't that crucial for you?"

"I don't want money, I have a existence here in Poland, I simply desire to know," the message continued.

The panel was advised that by means of electronic messages, text messages and communications, Ms Wandelt demanded a DNA test, sent youth pictures to her phone in a attempt to demonstrate a likeness to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and stated to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.

Robert Jones, an intelligence analyst with the police force who collated the evidence, told the court there "didn't appear to be any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt furthermore reached out to acquaintances of the McCanns, according to the call data.

On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann answered a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "the wrong phone."

On that occasion Ms Wandelt recorded a recording on Mrs McCann's answerphone declaring "I will persist and I intend to demonstrate my claim."

The court was informed Mrs Spragg struck up a connection through digital means with Ms Wandelt before joining her on a trip to the McCanns' home in the county in December 2024.

Phone records demonstrated Mrs Spragg had reached out using messaging service to Mrs McCann to say the media had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "emotionally disturbed" but that she deserved to be considered genuine in the period preceding the appearance to that location, the county, in last December.

The court heard correspondence between the two accused, in November 2024, planning trying to get Mrs McCann's genetic material from her garbage or from utensils at a restaurant.

"We have to take action," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.

On the occasion of the appearance to their residence, Mrs Spragg sent a text which stated: "We find ourselves positioned adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark like detectives. I desired to achieve this with Peter Andrew I never thought I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The trial proceeds.