Woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents ‘confused’, court told

Jurors have been urged to acquit a Polish woman of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents after her barrister argued that she was confused about her parental background and only approached the couple when “at the end of her tether”.

Tom Price KC said Julia Wandelt, who jurors have been told wrongly believed she was Madeleine, behaved politely and had been protective of Kate McCann when she visited her Leicestershire home in December last year.

Wandelt, aged 24 and from Lubin in Poland, is on trial alongside co-defendant Karen Spragg at Leicester Crown Court, with both women denying taking part in a “cruel and unforgiving” campaign of stalking, causing serious alarm or distress to Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry McCann.

Prosecutors allege Wandelt peddled the myth that she is Madeleine, who disappeared aged three in Portugal in 2007, while stalking Mr and Mrs McCann by sending emails, leaving voicemails and turning up at their home between June 2022 and February this year.

In his closing speech to the jury on Tuesday, Mr Price described Wandelt as a “rather sad and pathetic young woman” who had not benefited in any way from attempting to contact the McCanns while requesting a DNA test.

Mr Price said of the trial: “There is one real question that we have to ask about this case – if Julia Wandelt is stalking the McCanns, what is the benefit to her? What has she gained from this?”

Asserting that the prosecution had been unable to answer what was actually an unanswerable question, Mr Price added: “If the Crown theory is correct, it is that she knew from the very beginning that she is not Madeleine McCann.

“If that theory is correct, what on earth has she been doing for the past three years?”

Inviting jurors to consider whether Wandelt’s claim to be Madeleine was a genuine belief, Mr Price continued: “The answer must be that she wanted answers to the complex questions that may arise from her rather unfortunate background.”

Wandelt had contacted the McCanns as “the last thing she could do”, the court was told, after contacting the ongoing police inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance and 22 other organisations, including police in Portugal and the UK and a Polish missing persons group.

Mr Price said: “This was a woman who was at the end of her tether when she finally had any actual contact with the McCanns in December.”

Wandelt had made no threats of violence and shown no malevolence towards the McCanns, Mr Price also submitted.

Claiming the Polish national had been protective towards Mrs McCann during an encounter on her driveway, Mr Price went on: “This is not wicked behaviour – this is confused behaviour.

“This is the behaviour, we would submit, of a rather sad and pathetic young woman.

“You would have to have a heart of stone, members of the jury, not to feel some sympathy and compassion for that young woman.”

To find Wandelt guilty, Mr Price said, jurors would have to be satisfied so they are sure that she had caused serious alarm or distress, while Mrs McCann had described his client as an irritant.

“It’s not enough to say she was irritating, annoying or overbearing in this case. We say you can’t be so satisfied and you should find her not guilty,” Mr Price said.

Simon Russell Flint KC, defending Spragg, submitted that Wandelt was on an “increasingly desperate quest” to try to find out and establish who she is.

He said Spragg’s “sole purpose” had been to find out whether Wandelt “might be the missing Madeleine”.

“Karen Spragg came to be a true friend to Julia Wandelt,” Mr Russell Flint said. “She almost suffered with her. She supported her, she believed in her. She wanted to help her find her true identity.”

After Wandelt’s arrest in February this year a DNA comparison was finally carried out by police, the court has heard.

Mr Russell Flint said of the test, which showed no link between Wandelt and the McCanns: “Until they did that very simple, inexpensive, non-invasive exercise, nobody could stand up and say with complete certainty that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Wandelt and Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.

The trial continues.