A woman who falsely claimed to be missing toddler Madeleine McCann bombarded her mother with 60 calls and messages in one day, a court heard.
Jurors were told that there was “unequivocal scientific evidence” that Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, has no familial link to the McCanns.
However, she repeatedly contacted the missing girl’s parents in a string of messages and phone calls and turned up at their address, the court heard, on one occasion begging “please don’t give up on your daughter”.
Ms Wandelt and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny stalking Kate and Gerry McCann causing serious alarm or distress between June 2022 and February this year.
Opening their trial at Leicester Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Michael Duck KC told a jury of five men and seven women that from June 2022, Wandelt began attempting to persuade “anybody prepared to listen” that she was Madeleine.
“Her contention over the two and a half years that followed was therefore that she must have been abducted and taken to Poland where she lived with people who she was erroneously told were her parents,” Mr Duck told the court.
“She pursued claims that she was Madeleine McCann and she pursued Madeleine McCann’s parents over a period of time and pursued that myth.”
Ms Wandelt broke down in tears and went to the back of the dock when the prosecutor told the jury: “Can we at this very early stage in the trial make this position clear – that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”
She returned to the dock beside Ms Spragg after a 10-minute break to listen to the rest of hearing.
The jury were told Madeleine’s unsolved disappeared from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve in May 2007 has generated worldwide attention.
One of many tragic consequences for her parents was the “constant inability to escape the glare of publicity that came with that tragedy”, Mr Duck said.
“The attention they have received has not always been compassionate, sometimes far from it,” he added.
“There remains a group of individuals who continue to fail to acknowledge their plight and perpetuate conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, these two defendants belong to that latter group.”
The trial heard Ms Wandelt had also claimed to be two other missing girls during the same period.
In January or Feburary 2023, she contacted a charity called Missing Years Ago, which helps with historic missing person cases.
“The initial contact with the charity was not to contend that she was Madeleine McCann but rather to suggest that she was another missing girl, Inga Gehricke,” Mr Duck said.
“Inga was a young girl who had disappeared in Germany, but as with Madeleine McCann, Julia Wandelt was precluded from being a realistic candidate by virtue of her age and obvious differences.”
On a separate occasion, the jury heard, Ms Wandelt claimed to be another missing girl called Acacia Bishop.
On one day in April last year, Ms Wandelt called and messaged Madeleine’s mother Kate’s phone on more than 60 occasions, the court.
In a voicemail left on Mrs McCann’s phone, which was played to the jury, Ms Wandelt continued: “I know my accent is Polish because I live here, I know I look fat and I know I’m not pretty like Madeleine was in the past, but I know what I know, I know what I remember.
“Please just give me a chance, I’m not a liar, I’m not crazy – I just want to know the truth. Call me or message me or whatever please.”
Mr Duck told the jury: “The refusal to respond by Ms McCann did not deter Julia Wandelt.”
Ms Wandelt also claimed to have “flashbacks” from hypnosis sessions, including one memory of spoon-feeding Madeleine’s younger brother.
The court heard Wandelt emailed Mr McCann in June 2023 and messaged Madeleine’s younger sister on other occasions saying there were “many things” she could remember, and that she would “never lie”.
The trial continues.
