Alleged Stalker Inquired: 'But Suppose I Am Madeleine?'

Courtroom sketch
Karen Spragg - according to court testimony asserts she is missing Madeleine McCann - dispute the allegations

A female charged with stalking Kate McCann allegedly deposited her a phone message which questioned: "suppose I am Madeleine?"

The defendant, twenty-four, who a jury heard has consistently asserted she was the disappeared Madeleine McCann, and her co-defendant are standing trial accused with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February 2025.

Madeleine McCann photo
Madeleine McCann's vanishing has never been concluded

On Monday, Leicester Crown Court was told phone records and data retrieved from phones recorded Ms Wandelt repeatedly asking Madeleine's mother for a biological test during 2023 and 2024.

Madeleine's case in 2007 - when she was three years old during a vacation in Portugal - is among the most publicized missing child cases and remains open.

'I Do Not Need Money'

Another voicemail, played in court, captured Ms Wandelt saying: "I realize I'm overweight and plain like Madeleine used to be, but I feel what I believe."

While one recording of Ms Wandelt's recordings with Mrs McCann's voicemail expressed: "Imagine there is a tiny probability that I'm her? What then? Is that not important for you?"

"I don't want money, I possess a life here in Poland, I just want to understand," she added.

The tribunal was advised that via emails, SMS messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt asked for a biological test, forwarded youth pictures to her phone in a bid to show a resemblance to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and asserted to have "memories" from a childhood with the McCanns.

Robert Jones, a data specialist with Leicestershire Police who compiled the evidence, told the court there "seemed to lack any responses" from Mrs McCann.

Ms Wandelt also reached out to close associates of the McCanns, as per the call data.

On 9 October 2024, Gerry McCann responded to a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, stating she had "a wrong number."

During that incident Ms Wandelt left a recording on Mrs McCann's voicemail saying "I won't give up and I plan to establish my claim."

Court proceedings
Kate and Gerry McCann provided testimony to the court from protected by a security measure on Wednesday

The court heard the co-defendant struck up a relationship online with Ms Wandelt preceding accompanying her on a trip to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in last December.

Communication data revealed Mrs Spragg had communicated through messaging service to Mrs McCann to express the press had portrayed Ms Wandelt as "mentally unstable" but that she ought to be considered genuine in the time leading up to the trip to that location, the county, in last December.

The court heard communications between the two defendants, in that autumn, considering attempting to obtain Mrs McCann's genetic material from her trash or from cutlery at a eating establishment.

"We need to take action," Mrs Spragg informed Ms Wandelt.

On the evening of the trip to their house, the defendant sent a text which expressed: "We're currently sitting near the McCanns' residence with our headlights off like private investigators. I desired to do this with Peter Andrew I hadn't anticipated I would be involved in this with the McCanns."

The trial ongoing.

Kimberly Barrera
Kimberly Barrera

Tech enthusiast and writer with a passion for exploring emerging technologies and their impact on society.