6.5 C
New York
Friday, November 7, 2025

Girl who ‘stalked the McCanns’ breaks down saying she ‘should not be in court docket’ | Information UK


Picture supplied by Bav Media 07976 880732. File picture dated May 2024 shows Julie Wandelt who had traveled from Poland to give a letter to Kate and Gerry McCann at the 17th Anniversary Vigil for Maddie McCann in Rothley,Leicestershire. She was unable to give the letter directly as the McCann???s were not at the event. A woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann???s parents has told a jury she persisted in calling Kate McCann because she wanted to help her but would ???respect her decision??? if the mother told her to leave her alone. Leicester Crown Court heard that Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, felt ???ashamed??? to have received around ??400 from people wanting to help her get answers about her identity because she ???knows what it looks like???. Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, claimed she is Madeleine ??? who disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007 ??? while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann by sending emails, making calls and turning up at their home.
Julia Wandelt has since claimed Kate McCann hid the quantity of contact they’d (Image: BAV Media)

The alleged stalker of Madeleine McCann’s dad and mom cried within the witness stand as she claimed the lacking woman’s mum ‘hid’ info from the jury and investigation, a court docket has heard.

Julia Wandelt, 24, broke down in tears whereas saying ‘I didn’t do something unsuitable’ and informed the court docket she shouldn’t be within the witness field.

The Polish nationwide, from Lubin, Poland, is accused of claiming to be lacking British toddler Madeleine, all whereas stalking Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry by sending emails, making cellphone calls, leaving voicemails and turning up at their deal with.

Wandelt informed the jury at Leicester Crown Court docket on Thursday: ‘If my recollections are unsuitable, why did Kate McCann cover extra contact she had with me once I defined my recollections? She didn’t inform it in court docket.

‘If I’m unsuitable, why did she cover the truth that many of the voicemails have been about my recollections? If I’m unsuitable, why did she cover this half?’

Join the entire newest tales

Begin your day knowledgeable with Metro’s Information Updates e-newsletter or get Breaking Information alerts the second it occurs.

When Prosecutor Michael Duck KC requested if she was suggesting Mrs McCann withheld info from the jury or the investigation, Wandelt replied: ‘Each.’

(FILES) Kate (L) and Gerry (R) McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal in 2007, are seen during an interview with the BBC's Fiona Bruce at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough on April 28, 2017. The mother of missing British girl Madeleine McCann on October 8, 2025 told a court of her distress at being stalked by a Polish woman claiming to be her lost daughter when she knew she was an imposter. Kate McCann, giving evidence at the trial of Julia Wandelt for stalking her and her husband Gerry, also said the 24-year-old had attended a vigil last year for Madeleine. (Photo by Joe Giddens / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JOE GIDDENS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Kate and Gerry McCann have been topic to the ‘undesirable’ advances (Image: AFP)

The jury has heard that Wandelt claims to have recollections of her abduction and of dwelling with the McCann household.

When requested if she understood that her advances in the direction of the household have been undesirable, Wandelt stated no.

She added: ‘On the finish of the day, this can be a individual searching for their youngster, so I didn’t assume this contact was not needed.’

Requested why she thought they didn’t reply, Wandelt stated: ‘Possibly they weren’t allowed to. I simply couldn’t consider, and nonetheless can not consider, the dad and mom of a lacking youngster don’t wish to comply with a lead.’

Wandelt added: ‘However I wasted three-and-a-half years of my life figuring out who I’m… I feel I’m within the unsuitable place. I shouldn’t be within the witness field at present.”

She stated she thought the explanation the McCanns didn’t reply to her is as a result of they’d been ‘threatened’.

Undated handout file photo of Madeleine McCann who disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal seventeen years ago. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, released a statement on the 17th anniversary of her disappearance, saying "the absence still aches". Earlier this week, it was confirmed that up to a further ?192,000 has been granted by the Home Office for the Scotland Yard investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. Issue date: Friday May 3, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Madeleine went lacking whereas on a household vacation in Portugal (Image: PA)

The court docket heard Wandelt despatched a message to Mrs McCann saying ‘you’re corrupted’ and ‘you by no means needed to search out Madeleine, it’s so unhappy.’

Wandelt stated she despatched the message as a result of she was ‘unhappy and emotional’, however regretted saying that.

Wandelt stated that Karen Spragg had been ‘verbally’ aggressive in the direction of Mrs McCann once they visited her dwelling in December final yr.

The court docket heard Wandelt had informed Spragg to not shout at Mrs McCann throughout their interplay along with her, and Wandelt agreed with Mr Duck that her actions have been intimidating.

Wandelt additionally stated: ‘That’s why I got here to the UK… to then have this DNA profile formally in comparison with the crime scene DNA after which go to court docket, to household court docket, and take authorized motion.’

Wandelt and her co-defendant, Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court docket Highway in Caerau, Cardiff, each deny one depend of stalking.

The trial continues.

Get in contact with our information group by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For extra tales like this, verify our information web page.

Related Articles

Latest Articles