Alleged McCann stalker ‘told police she would never do anything bad to them’

The alleged stalker of the McCann family said she would “never do anything bad” to them during an interview when police told her that Madeleine is “very special” to Kate, a court heard.

Jurors were also told that Julia Wandelt, 24, told officers that her father made a comment about how they got her “from the McCanns” after “drowning” their first child.

Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, told police in the interviews that she did not intend to cause the McCanns distress and she “never wanted to get attention”, the court heard.

Prosecutor Nadia Silver and Leicestershire Police Constable Tom Szyszlak, who interviewed Wandelt the day after she was arrested in February this year, read aloud the transcripts at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday.

Jurors heard the officer told Wandelt that Mrs McCann said she found a letter, left for her by the Polish national after she turned up at the house, “deeply disturbing” and “distressing” because it had been addressed: “Dear Mum (Kate)”.

He told Wandelt that Mrs McCann said: “Madeleine is very special to me, someone pretending to be her is hurtful.”

Wandelt told police: “She (Kate) could always easily prove me wrong if she is sure (that she is not the missing Madeleine)”.

Prosecutors allege Wandelt peddled the myth that she was Madeleine, who disappeared aged three during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007, while stalking Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry between June 2022 and February this year.

Wandelt told officers she believes her Polish parents “possibly” had another child based on a comment her father made.

Asked about this comment in the interview, Wandelt told police: “He said ‘I hope you don’t think we drowned our first child and brought you from the McCanns’.”

She answered “no comment” to questions about her visit to the McCanns’ home on December 7 last year, whether she was asked to leave and if she posted a recording of the interaction on social media.

During the interview, the court heard Wandelt said: “Why can’t they do the DNA test with me, why, why not, why not, despite all the evidence I have gathered?”

She told the officer: “I’m only asking for a fricking DNA test and that’s all. I’m a victim here because they refuse a DNA test despite looking for their long-missing daughter. They only care about themselves.”

She added: “I would never do anything bad to them, nothing, never hurt them in any way.”

Asked about the recording of a call between her and Detective Constable Mark Draycott from Operation Grange, the ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, which was used in a crime YouTube podcast, Wandelt said “it was never about the attention”.

The officer asked why she published it, and Wandelt replied: “To help get this DNA test.”

Wandelt answered “no comment” when asked about how her “at least a million followers” across different platforms made her feel, adding: “How can I give any comment if you are not here to help me.”

The officer told Wandelt in the interview: “You are not the first person to say they are Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, who also denies stalking the McCanns, alleged during her interviews with police that Mr and Mrs McCann had “arranged the kidnapping”.

She told officers: “We get arrested for turning up at their house once or twice two days in a row… and they leave their children alone and everyone’s asking why weren’t they punished?”

She added: “They know what they have done. They arranged the kidnapping and the abduction.”

Jurors heard Spragg also said: “Her (Wandelt’s) parents are not her Polish parents. Her Polish parents are doctors, her father is. There’s a connection.”

Speaking about her support for Wandelt, Spragg told officers: “You say about the McCanns being distressed but what about Julia’s feelings?

“She’s got all the evidence. The police won’t do anything. I would rather trust Julia who is providing evidence – that’s my opinion.

“I’m a mother and she’s like a daughter to me. I’m a mother and a grandmother so that’s my motherly instincts kicking in. I don’t see that as a crime either.”

Questioned about why she went with Wandelt to the McCanns’ house in December, Spragg told police: “I thought we were just going to go there, she (Kate) was going to listen as a mother looking for her child… but it didn’t happen.”

The trial continues.