KATE McCann today told a court the “final straw” from an alleged stalker claiming to be Madeleine was when she messaged the missing youngster’s sister.
Julia Wandelt allegedly sent unwanted emails, made multiple phone calls and even turned up at the home of Kate and Gerry McCann.
Kate McCann is giving evidence against her alleged stalker[/caption]
Julia Wandelt believed she was Madeleine[/caption]
Maddie vanished in 2007[/caption]
The 24-year-old falsely claimed she was Madeleine, who vanished from on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
She believed she had memories of the three-year-old’s childhood and disappearance before being supposedly trafficked to Poland.
Kate is giving evidence behind a screen today at Leicester Crown Court.
She told jurors she first became aware of Wandelt in 2022 after she phoned Gerry at the hospital he works at.
The mum said Wandelt had also emailed the Find Madeleine campaign but she received no direct contact herself until 2024.
Kate said police officers investigating Madeleine’s disappearance sent her and Gerry of the alleged stalker after she claimed she was the missing youngster.
Both parents concluded she was not Madeleine but Wandelt continued to contact them – claiming: “I never lied, I’m not crazy, please let me prove it.”
She also allegedly left a voicemail on Kate’s phone, saying: “If I am her, then everything should be OK but if I’m not, which you probably think, then I’ll leave you alone.
“I know my accent is Polish because I live here… I’m not pretty like Madeleine but I know what I know and I know and what I remember.
“Please give me a chance, you don’t give up on your daughter, I’m not crazy.”
Kate told the court she “didn’t want to engage” but almost agreed to a DNA test as Wandelt’s campaign was “getting to me”.
She said the “final straw” came when she discovered Wandelt had allegedly messaged her 20-year-old daughter, Amelie.
Kate told jurors she went to police to discuss the case after that.
Jurors heard how Wandelt tried to persuade “anybody prepared to listen” that she was the British toddler.
The alleged stalker, from Lubin in south west Poland, burst into tears and had to take a 10-minute break after the court was told she is not Madeleine.
Mr Duck added: “There could never have been a legitimate belief by Julia Wandelt that she was Madeleine McCann.
“At the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, Julia Wandelt was not of the same age.”
The court heard she compared herself to images of Madeleine and tried to convince the younger McCann daughter, Amelie, they were related.
She even signed letters to the McCann family from Madeleine, it was said.
Mr Duck said the “well-planned campaign of harassment” had a “substantial adverse effect on the day-to-day activities” of the McCann parents.
The court head Wandelt initially called the hospital where they work and emailed the Met Police investigation codenamed Operation Grange.
She later messaged Gerry: “In June 2022 I started to think maybe I am Madeleine McCann. I am not joking, please take this seriously.”
Jurors heard she went on to call and message Kate over 60 times during a single day in April 2024, writing: “I never lied. I am not crazy. Please let me prove it.”
Recorded voicemail messages were played in court where Wandelt was heard pleading: “I beg you, you are my real mother, I remember you and our home, give me a chance to prove it
“You are mummy. You know it’s me. I remember how you hugged me and a pink teddy bear.”
Mr Duck said: “One of the many tragic consequences for Madeleine’s parents has been their consequent inability to escape that unwanted glare of publicity that came with that tragedy.
“Their faces have become immediately recognisable to a worldwide audience and the attention they have received has not always been compassionate. Far from it.
“They have been embraced by millions of people around the world who sympathise with their position. But there remains a group of individuals which continues to fail to acknowledge their plight and perpetuates conspiracy theories which simply heap further misery upon them.
“Unfortunately, these two defendants belong to that latter group – but as far as they are concerned, their observations and behaviour are not an offhand comments or a Facebook/Instagram posting, but a well-planned campaign of harassment which extended, in Julia Wandelt’s case, for over two-and-half years.”
Wandelt and co-accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, deny stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry between June 2022 and February this year.
The trial continues.
Madeleine disappeared when she was three years old[/caption]
Wandelt turned up at Kate and Gerry McCann’s home[/caption]
