Alleged stalker asked ChatGPT if she could be Madeleine McCann, court hears

The alleged stalker of Madeleine McCann’s family asked ChatGPT if she could be the missing three-year-old, a court has heard.

Jurors were told that the AI chatbot suggested there was a “possibility” Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, could be Madeleine when she used it to compare her DNA to other genetic profiles, but also told her more evidence was needed to confirm it.

Leicester Crown Court heard that Wandelt asked the software to compare her DNA to a sample taken from the floor where Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, which a forensic scientist previously told the court does not match Gerry McCann’s DNA profile.

In the course of the interactions, the chatbot suggested the DNA profiles were “consistent with a father-child relationship”, the court heard.

Prosecution barrister Michael Duck KC read interactions between Wandelt and the AI chatbot to the court on Tuesday afternoon.

In one of the 76 chats stored on her phone, the court heard Wandelt asked: “Does it mean Julia Wandelt may be Madeleine McCann?”

Prosecutors allege Wandelt peddled the myth she was the missing girl, who disappeared during a family holiday in 2007, while stalking Mr McCann and his wife Kate between June 2022 and February this year.

The court heard Wandelt, of Lubin in south-west Poland, asked questions of ChatGPT as if the second DNA sample belonged to Mr McCann, but the court previously heard it does not.

The chatbot replied to Wandelt: “The genetic evidence strongly supports that Gerry McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father as the data perfectly aligns to a parent-child relationship.”

When Wandelt asked whether she may be Madeleine, the jury heard the chatbot said: “If Gerry McCann is confirmed as Julia Wandelt’s biological father, it raises the possibility that Julia could be Madeleine McCann, but additional evidence such as a DNA test… is required to confirm this.”

The chatbot encouraged Wandelt to verify the origin of the DNA sample and its authenticity, the court heard.

Rosalyn Hammond, a DNA expert, previously told the court that test results “strongly favour the proposition Julia Wandelt is not the biological child of the person who left the floor DNA profile”.

She had also told the court: “The floor profile does not match the profile of Gerry McCann. It’s a different profile.”

Wandelt and her co-defendant, 61-year-old Karen Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.

The trial will continue on Wednesday.