Alleged stalker tells court she persisted with calls to help Kate McCann

A woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents has told a jury she persisted in calling Kate McCann because she wanted to help her but would “respect her decision” if the mother told her to leave her alone.

Leicester Crown Court heard that Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, felt “ashamed” to have received around £400 from people wanting to help her get answers about her identity because she “knows what it looks like”.

Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, claimed she is Madeleine – who disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007 – while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann by sending emails, making calls and turning up at their home.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Wandelt told the jury she did not mean to upset Mrs McCann, adding that she wanted to assist her.

She said: “I got the impression that police did not pass any information to Kate and Gerry. I just thought they were misled and I just wanted to explain.”

Wandelt said she wanted to speak to Mrs McCann to “explain all the pieces of evidence” and the memories she had, adding that the chance she could be Madeleine outweighed the “potential disappointment” for the McCanns.

She said: “If you compared false hope and potential truth coming out… I’m not a mother but I have younger siblings. If my sister or brother went missing I would do everything… if I had a little hope.”

She told the court she could remember being “held with other girls” and abused, including “some faces and certain names and what the place looked like”.

The court previously heard that Wandelt called and messaged Mrs McCann more than 60 times in one day in April last year.

Defence barrister Tom Price KC asked Wandelt why she “persisted” in trying to contact Mrs McCann after receiving no response.

Wandelt told the court: “I thought that DNA should be done, it should have been done in the beginning and I didn’t understand.

“I thought it was because of the media, because of what they said about me. I thought maybe that was the reason why she didn’t want to do the DNA test, because maybe she was told I’m crazy or that I am lying.”

Mr Price asked: “Did you think if you had a chance to speak to her, you could persuade her you weren’t crazy?”

Wandelt replied: “Yes. There was no engagement from her, nothing, and there was something odd about it. It was all the time silence, I just didn’t understand.”

Asked what would have made her stop the phone calls, Wandelt said: “A conversation with me and a DNA test.”

Mr Price asked what she would do if Mrs McCann asked her to leave her alone, and Wandelt said: “If she called me, after listening to my evidence and giving me the chance to explain… I think I would respect this.

“My identity is important to me, I want to know who I am, but there are things going on in the background of people’s lives. I guess I would respect her decision.”

Wandelt said she felt “ashamed” she had received money totalling 2,000 Polish zloty, or around £400, from people wanting to help her.

She said: “My friends advised me to ask people for help.

“I felt bad about this, especially (because) this is not their life… I should be able to take care of myself.”

She told the court she “mentions quite often” that she is not after money because “people read what is written about me in the news” and “get all the lies”.

She said she did get money for a polygraph or lie detector test “from people who wanted to help me”, adding that her boyfriend told her to move out without any savings.

Wandelt said: “I’m ashamed of this because I know what it looks like. I did not want to end up homeless on the street with my boyfriend telling me I have to move out straight away.”

She told the jury an American woman called Fia Johansson contacted her when she set up an Instagram account called “I am Madeleine McCann”, before they went to the US together.

Wandelt said: “She said she would be able to help me. A lot of people were warning me saying it could be dangerous. I was desperate. She said she is in touch with Kate and Gerry McCann and they agreed for a DNA test with me.”

Tom Price KC asked: “Did you believe her?” and Wandelt replied: “Yes.”

She told the court: “She came to Poland, flew from United States – it should be a red flag to me but it wasn’t at the time. She took over my Instagram account even before she came to Poland.”

Wandelt said she went to the US after Ms Johansson told her she was “in danger in Poland”, adding: “The thing is that her attitude towards me changed the moment I entered her house. I started asking when we will go to the UK – that was the plan.

“She organised interviews, not sure actually how or why. I did not see the point, for example, going on Dr Phil. It was all her idea.”

She told the jury she did not get paid to appear on the Dr Phil psychology chat show.

Wandelt and her co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, deny stalking between June 2022 and February this year.

The trial continues.