Topics: Madeleine McCann, True Crime, Crime, News, UK News
Kate McCann has spoken out during the trial of a woman who is claiming to be her missing daughter, Madeleine McCann.
It comes 18 years after three-year-old Madeleine, who would now be 22, vanished during a family holiday to the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007. What happened to her went on to become one of the world's most notorious mysteries and high-profile missing persons cases, remaining unsolved to this day.
Today (Wednesday, 8 October) was the trial of Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, who has been claiming to be the missing girl, and she's been accused of turning up at Kate and Gerry's family home, as well as making an appearance at a vigil in honour of Madeleine.
61-year-old Karen Spragg has also been charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress for her alleged involvement in the situation.
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Wandelt allegedly even posted a letter to Kate, which was addressed 'Dear Mum' and signed from 'Madeleine', which Kate found 'really distressing'.
Breaking her silence on the traumatic ordeal, Kate was shielded from the dock by a curtain at Leicester Crown Court as she entered the witness box.
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC confirmed that the first attempts to contact the McCann family by Wandelt occurred on June 24 2022.
Kate said she first became aware through officers working on Operation Grange, the Met Police inquiry into her daughter’s 2007 disappearance, that Wandelt believed herself to be Madeleine.
The prosecutor then read excerpts of messages Wandelt sent to Kate, in which the defendant said: “Let me prove I am not a liar.”
After confirming that she could remember the messages 'arriving' at her mobile phone, Kate was asked if she had responded to the messages, to which she answered: “No. I did not want to engage.”
Kate was then asked about a voicemail message left on her phone by Wandelt, in which she asked for a DNA test to be carried out.
The mother told the court: “If I’m honest, because of the persistence of Julia’s behaviour, it did start to get to me. I almost wanted a DNA test to put it to bed… from the photographs.. I knew it wasn’t her.”
When recalling the alleged letter sent to her, Kate said (as per MailOnline): "'I think that is an example of a thing that was really getting to me it is obviously that is the thing I want most, and for Madeleine to be calling me "mum" that was really distressing for me."
She also recalled an alleged visit Wandelt and Spragg made to the McCanns’ home address in Leicestershire on December 7 last year.
Kate said: “I pulled up on the drive… it was really dark, it was the weekend, we had the gales. I was opening the boot to get something out, and I heard someone say ‘Kate’.
“I knew it was someone behind me, but I didn’t know who it was. I had pictures of her [Wandelt], plus she was quite vivid in my mind anyway because of the communications.
“She called me mum I think, she was asking for a DNA test, ‘why wont you do a DNA test?’ and pleading with me.”
When asked how the alleged encounter made her feel, she said she was 'quite distressed', and claimed that when she attempted to shut the door 'Julia trying to put her hands out to stop me closing the door'.
However, the 'final straw' was Wandelt reportedly trying to contact Amelie, Madeleine's younger sister.
When asked about the personal impact over the last two-and-a-half years, Kate told the Leicestershire court that her level of 'stress and anxiety' had increased, but she felt 'more relaxed' after being told Wandelt was arrested at Bristol Airport on February 19 this year.
Kate said: “I feel like it has escalated, the level of stress and anxiety it’s caused me has increased over that time."
As the prosecution finished asking Kate questions, Wandelt sobbed loudly and shouted, "Why are you doing this to me?" as she was escorted out of the court.
Wandelt previously made an appearance on an episode of Dr Phil in 2023 after gaining attention online.
She said she was waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm her identity, seemingly convinced that she was the real Madeleine.
However, the results later confirmed that she is not Madeleine; the test instead showed that she has Polish, Lithuanian, and Romanian heritage.
Wandelt and Spragg both deny a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
