Suspected Harasser Questioned: 'Yet Imagine I Am Madeleine?'
A woman charged with stalking Kate McCann allegedly recorded her a voicemail message which questioned: "imagine I am Madeleine?"
The defendant, 24, who a jury heard has persistently claimed she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are standing trial indicted with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.
On Monday, the court was told communication data and information retrieved from phones recorded Ms Wandelt persistently requesting Madeleine's mother for a genetic test during that period.
Madeleine's case in 2007 - as a three-year-old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most covered missing child cases and remains open.
'I Am Not Seeking Money'
One recorded message, played in court, documented Ms Wandelt stating: "I realize I'm fat and not pretty like Madeleine had been, but I know what I feel."
While a separate message of Ms Wandelt's monologues with Mrs McCann's answerphone stated: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I am she? What then? Isn't that important for you?"
"I don't want money, I have a living here in Poland, I only wish to discover," the recording stated.
The jury was informed that via emails, SMS messages and communications, Ms Wandelt requested a DNA test, transmitted early photographs to her phone in a attempt to show a resemblance to Mrs McCann's disappeared daughter, and claimed to have "recollections" from a youth with the McCanns.
The investigator, an investigator with Leicestershire Police who compiled the evidence, advised the court there "didn't appear to be any answers" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt additionally reached out to close associates of the McCanns, according to the call data.
On 9 October 2024, Mr McCann picked up a call from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "the wrong phone."
During that incident Ms Wandelt recorded a voicemail on Mrs McCann's voicemail declaring "I will continue and I will prove my point."
The court heard the co-defendant established a association via internet with Ms Wandelt before accompanying her on a trip to the McCanns' home in Leicestershire in last December.
Phone records showed Mrs Spragg had contacted using messaging service to Mrs McCann to say the press had characterized Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she deserved to be considered genuine in the time preceding the appearance to the village, the county, in last December.
The court was told correspondence between the two individuals, in last November, discussing attempting to acquire Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her garbage or from cutlery at a restaurant.
"We need to take action," Mrs Spragg advised Ms Wandelt.
On the night of the trip to their home, the defendant transmitted a message which said: "We are sat adjacent to the McCanns' house with our lights out resembling private investigators. I desired to accomplish this with someone else I didn't imagine I would be involved in this with the McCanns."
The trial ongoing.