Alleged stalker ‘urged McCanns not to think Madeleine is dead in voicemails’

The alleged stalker of Madeleine McCann’s parents repeatedly begged them for a DNA test, and urged them to think that the missing girl was not dead, in a series of voicemails heard by a jury.

Leicester Crown Court heard recordings of Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, audibly upset, as she left voice messages to Kate McCann last year over a period of months, at one point asking: “What if I’m her?”

Her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, started crying on Monday and had to leave the dock when recordings of the voicemails left by Wandelt to Mrs McCann were played to the court.

Wandelt, whose head was down while jurors listened to the recordings, was heard saying: “I know you probably think Madeleine’s dead. Well she is not. I really believe I’m her.

“Help me. Don’t think Madeleine is dead. This is a chance. Please, I beg you.

“The police don’t want to help me, they don’t want to help Madeleine. It’s all corrupt.

“I promise you that I will prove who I am because I know you love Madeleine.”

In another message, she said: “You probably believe Madeleine is not alive any more. What if I’m her? What if there’s a small chance that I’m her?”

In another message to Mrs McCann, the court heard Wandelt claimed to have a nearly 70% DNA match with a sample taken from where Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz.

Prosecutors allege the Polish national peddled the myth that she was Madeleine, who went missing during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007, while stalking Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address between June 2022 and February this year.

The court previously heard that Wandelt called and messaged Kate McCann more than 60 times in a single day in April last year, including about her alleged memories of the missing girl’s abduction.

On one occasion Mrs McCann received five text messages from Wandelt within seven seconds, the jury was told.

The court heard that Wandelt said in a message to Mrs McCann: “I cry when I listen to your voice or when I see you.

“You are mummy. You know it’s me. You know I’m not crazy.”

In another message she described an “example of what I can remember”, about a barbecue when she was young, with other children, and she claimed she asked Mrs McCann whether she could get a ball.

The message said: “I cry when I hear your voice. I feel this connection, I don’t know how to explain it.”

She added: “I always thought that you are innocent. I feel in my heart that you did not want this to happen. I know people judge you and they judge me too.

“I know you probably finished, closed, this chapter in your life, and I know you don’t want to open this again probably, but I always want to hear your voice.”

In a voicemail, Wandelt claimed to have a memory of “trying to shout ‘mummy, daddy'”, adding: “I could not say anything. I could not shout, I could not do anything.”

The jury heard that one night, Wandelt sent a message to Mrs McCann at 1am, saying: “I don’t understand why you don’t want to do a DNA test.”

Jurors heard a recording of Mr McCann answering the phone once last year, when he told Wandelt: “You must have the wrong number.”

In a following voicemail, Wandelt said: “I know it was you Gerry. You answered the call. Why is it so hard to answer the call and speak with me?

“I haven’t done anything wrong. If you’re looking for Madeleine, you should do a test with me.”

In a separate voicemail, the court heard, Wandelt said the “last thing” she wanted was to post about her claims to be Madeleine on social media, but added she was left with “no choice”.

The jury was told that the day before Wandelt was arrested, she sent a message to Mrs McCann which said: “I actually miss you. I want this horror to be ended. Please, Mum. Yours, Julia (Madeleine).”

Wandelt and Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.

The trial continues.