Suspected Harasser Questioned: 'Yet What If I Am Madeleine?'
A woman charged with pursuing Kate McCann apparently recorded her a recorded message which posed: "what if I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, twenty-four, who witnesses stated has consistently asserted she was the missing Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with harassing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, Leicester Crown Court heard call records and information obtained from phones documented Ms Wandelt persistently asking Madeleine's mother for a genetic test throughout 2023 and 2024.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a vacation in Portugal - is considered the most widely reported investigations and remains unresolved.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One recorded message, shared in court, captured Ms Wandelt declaring: "I understand I'm heavy and unattractive like Madeleine was, but I know what I feel."
While one recording of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's recording stated: "What if there is a tiny probability that I am Madeleine? What happens next? Wouldn't that be important for you?"
"I don't want money, I have a existence here in Poland, I just want to know," she added.
The jury was informed that via electronic messages, mobile messages and communications, Ms Wandelt asked for a biological test, forwarded youth pictures to her phone in a bid to display a likeness to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and asserted to have "flashbacks" from a youth with the McCanns.
An intelligence analyst, a data specialist with law enforcement who compiled the information, informed the court there "didn't appear to be any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt furthermore reached out to family friends of the McCanns, according to the communication logs.
On October 9th, 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "the wrong phone."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt deposited a message on Mrs McCann's voicemail declaring "I will continue and I plan to establish my claim."
The court was informed Mrs Spragg developed a connection through digital means with Ms Wandelt prior to joining her on a trip to the McCanns' home in that area in last December.
Phone records revealed Mrs Spragg had contacted using WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to say the news outlets had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she should be considered genuine in the period before the appearance to that location, that area, in that winter.
The court learned correspondence between the two individuals, in that autumn, planning attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from utensils at a dining venue.
"We need to assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their residence, the defendant sent a communication which expressed: "We're currently sitting adjacent to the McCanns' residence with our vehicle dark resembling investigators. I wanted to do this with another person I didn't imagine I would be doing that with the McCanns."
The trial continues.