Julia Wandelt, 24, from Poland, is on trial accused of stalking the McCann family for two and a half years
A woman who falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann and is on trial accused of stalking her family told the missing girl’s father “I will prove my point with or without your help”, a court has heard.
A recording of the message was played to the jury at Leicester Crown Court, where Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, are both accused of stalking Madeleine’s family.
Jurors heard Gerry McCann answering his wife’s phone after Wandelt called. He ended the call after she identified herself. Moments later, she left a voicemail saying: “I know it was you Gerry. I’m just trying to find my biological family. I’m trying to find out who I really am, I really believe I am Madeleine. I won’t give up. I will prove my point with or without your help.”
READ MORE: Madeleine McCann stalker trial UPDATES: Julia Wandelt claimed ‘I won’t give up’
Wandelt is accused of sending letters, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, as well as Instagram messages to Madeleine’s younger siblings, twins Amelie and Sean, claiming to be the missing girl.
The court heard she allegedly carried out a two-and-a-half-year “campaign of harassment”, including visiting the family home in Leicestershire and contacting Kate up to 60 times in a single day.
The trial heard from Detective Mark Draycott, who was part of Scotland Yard’s £13m Operation Grange probe into the Madeleine McCann case. He told the court he was first contacted by Wandelt back in June 2022.
Jurors were played a recording of officer telling the defendant in a call: “There are no facts at all to say you are Madeleine. We go by evidence. There is no evidence to say you are Madeleine. Everything you say we have been able to disprove.”
Meanwhile, Spragg faces one count of stalking causing serious alarm or distress. Her alleged offences are said to have occurred between June 2022 and February 2025.
She started crying on Monday and had to leave the dock when recordings of the voicemails left by Wandelt to Kate were played to the court.