Suspected Stalker Inquired: 'Yet Suppose I Might Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with stalking Kate McCann allegedly left her a phone message which asked: "what if I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who a jury heard has persistently asserted she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are standing trial accused with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann from June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, the tribunal was told communication data and evidence retrieved from phones documented Ms Wandelt repeatedly requesting Madeleine's mother for a DNA test during that period.
Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 - at the age of three during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most widely reported missing child cases and remains open.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
Another recorded message, presented in court, documented Ms Wandelt saying: "I understand I'm heavy and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I feel."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone said: "What if there is a slight possibility that I'm her? What then? Isn't that important for you?"
"I don't want money, I have a existence here in Poland, I just want to understand," the recording stated.
The tribunal was told that by means of electronic messages, mobile messages and communications, Ms Wandelt asked for a genetic test, sent early photographs to her phone in a bid to show a resemblance to Mrs McCann's missing daughter, and asserted to have "recollections" from a early life with the McCanns.
The investigator, a data specialist with the police force who compiled the information, informed the court there "seemed to lack any replies" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also reached out to family friends of the McCanns, based on the communication logs.
On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann picked up a phone call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, saying she had "a wrong number."
On that occasion Ms Wandelt recorded a voicemail on Mrs McCann's recording stating "I will continue and I plan to establish my claim."
The court was informed the co-defendant established a relationship via internet with Ms Wandelt preceding accompanying her on a trip to the McCanns' home in that area in December 2024.
Phone records revealed Mrs Spragg had communicated through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to express the press had depicted Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be taken seriously in the months leading up to the trip to the village, that area, in last December.
The court heard message exchanges between the two defendants, in November 2024, considering attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's biological evidence from her trash or from utensils at a restaurant.
"We must make a stand," the co-defendant informed Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the appearance to their home, Mrs Spragg dispatched a communication which said: "We're currently positioned near the McCanns' home with our vehicle dark like detectives. I wanted to do this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The proceedings proceeds.