A Polish woman who falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann stalked the missing girl's parents by sending emails, making phone calls and appearing at their address, a court heard. Julia Wandelt (24) from Lubin in south-west Poland and Karen Spragg (61) from Cardiff deny stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
Leicester Crown Court was told there is "unequivocal scientific evidence" that Wandelt has no familial link to the McCanns. Prosecutor Michael Duck KC said: "Can we at this very early stage in the trial make this position clear - that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann."
Wandelt began crying audibly and moved to the back of the dock when the prosecutor made the statement. She returned after a 10-minute break to continue listening to the proceedings alongside co-defendant Spragg.
False claims and 'evolving memories'
From June 2022, Wandelt began attempting to convince anyone who would listen that she was Madeleine. Duck told the jury that Wandelt claimed she "must have been abducted and taken to Poland where she lived with people who she was erroneously told were her parents."
The prosecutor said: "You will see and hear occasions upon which she claims to have evolving memories of what actually happened in May 2007. She pursued claims that she was Madeleine McCann and she pursued Madeleine McCann's parents over a period of time and pursued that myth."
Wandelt claimed to have memories of being part of the McCann family and growing up with Madeleine's younger siblings. The court heard she sent images to Madeleine's younger sister to "persuade" her that they "were somehow related".
Background to the case
Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May 2007 from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal's coast. She was nine days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished during a family holiday, generating worldwide media attention.
Duck told the court that one tragic consequence for Kate and Gerry McCann has been their "constant inability to escape the glare of publicity that came with that tragedy". He said the attention "has not always been compassionate, sometimes far from it".
The prosecutor emphasised: "Nothing gives you the right to pursue and stalk people just because you want them to bend to your will and do as you demand or request. There could never have been a legitimate belief by Julia Wandelt that she was Madeleine McCann." The trial continues.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
