A POLISH woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann confronted mum Kate at home and demanded a DNA test, a court heard.
Julia Wandelt, who is on trial accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann, ‘lay in wait’ for the couple outside their property in Rothley, Leics, alongside co-accused Karen Spragg, jurors were told.
Polish Julia Wandelt, who is on trial accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann, has claimed to be their missing daughter Maddie[/caption]
The woman confronted mum Kate at home and demanded a DNA test, a court heard[/caption]
When Kate arrived home, the women allegedly pounced – forcing Kate, 57, to ‘seek sanctuary’ inside, despite Wandel’s attempts to stop her closing the front door.
Leicester crown court heard cardiologist Gerry then returned – and was also angrily challenged by Wandelt and Spragg, before Wandelt tried to force a letter into his hand.
The pair eventually left – but the following day, the hand-written note was posted through the McCanns’ door, addressed ‘Dear Mum (Kate)’.
Michael Duck KC, prosecuting, added it read: “I think that inside your heart you believe and know who I am. I am your daughter… I believe and I hope that you will find a way to contact me.”
He told jurors it was ‘cruelly’ signed ‘Lots of love, Madeleine x’.
It is claimed the ‘conspiracy theorists’ carried out a ‘well-planned campaign of harassment’ against the McCanns, with Wandelt, 24, accused of bombarding them with phone calls and messages – including 60 in a single day.
Spragg, 61, is said to have ‘joined forces’ with her co-accused last year after spotting her story online – and ‘adopted and evolved’ the bogus claims that she was Madeleine ‘with gusto’.
On the second day of their trial, the court heard the visit to the McCann family home took place in December last year after Spragg picked up Wandel from East Midlands Airport following a flight to the UK from Poland.
Recordings played to the court made by the women captured the moments they approached the couple – with Kate heard to say, ‘You are causing us a lot of distress. Now stop it’.
Mr Duck told the court: “Kate was noted by her husband as being visibly upset by the actions of the women and the incident caused both to be more vigilant when unfamiliar cars were seen in the vicinity of their home. It was the plainest of intrusions and the fear it caused was inevitable.
“Their attendance outside the McCanns’ address was the result of complex planning and the expenditure of significant amounts of money.
“Whatever they suggest to be their claims, beliefs or understandings, they do not afford someone the right to lie in wait for their targets, outside their own home, and enforce their will upon them – that is precisely what happened.”
Before the confrontation, Spragg allegedly messaged a friend to say: “We are sat outside the McCann’s home waiting for them to come home. We are sat like private investigators with car lights out… I never thought I would be stalking the McCanns xxx”.
Mr Duck said the women also discussed rummaging through the McCanns’ rubbish in a bid to get Kate’s DNA, or following them to a restaurant and ‘nicking’ a piece of cutlery used by her.
They were finally arrested on February 19 this year at Bristol Airport when Wandelt again flew into the UK.
She was detained as she left her flight – while Spragg was held by cops as she waited in a car outside to pick her co-accused up.
Wandelt, of Lubin, Poland, and Spragg, of Cardiff, deny one count each of stalking causing serious alarm or distress between June 2022 and February this year.
The trial, which is expected to last up to five weeks, continues.
Maddie went missing in Portugal in 2007 aged just three[/caption]
A DNA test has proven Julia cannot be Maddie[/caption]
