Madeleine McCann’s sister has told a court she “always knew” that a woman who claimed to be the missing girl was not her sibling.
Amelie McCann received a string of messages from Julia Wandelt in which she insisted she was her missing sister, who vanished without a trace from a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007.
Ms Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, is accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann, causing serious alarm or distress between June 2022 and February this year.
Giving evidence remotely at Leicester Crown Court, Amelie said it was “creepy” and “distressing” when Ms Wandelt sent her messages detailing apparent flashbacks she had from their childhood.
These included requests for a DNA test and alleged recollections from their childhood such as playing Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses with other children.
“It is quite disturbing that she’s coming up with these supposed memories even though she’s not Madeleine,” she told the court.
However, she said she did not want Ms Wandelt, who denies stalking, to get a DNA test because she “always knew that she wasn’t Madeleine”.
Asked why she did not want to do a DNA test, Madeleine’s sister continued: “Because I always knew that she wasn’t Madeleine, so I didn’t need to do one and the, not guidance, but the people around me didn’t think it was appropriate either for her to get a DNA test.”
There was a “sound of desperation” in the messages, Amelie said, noting she blocked her on a number of online platforms.
Asked how the messages made her feel, she added: “It makes me feel quite uncomfortable because it is quite creepy she is giving those details and trying to play with my emotions.”
The daughter said the alleged stalking “took a toll” on her mother, Kate McCann, who was targeted the most by Ms Wandelt.
“It definitely took a toll on her and her wellbeing because all the time her phone would be going off and it would be Julia,” she added.
“It’s upsetting when someone’s begging you to believe them and playing with your emotions to the point you are questioning yourself and doubting yourself.
“My mum really struggled with that – her saying ‘I’m your daughter’.”
Prosecutors allege Ms Wandelt repeatedly contacted Madeleine’s parents in a string of messages and phone calls and turned up at their address, on one occasion begging “please don’t give up on your daughter”.
She is accused of bombarding the mother with 60 calls and messages in one day, the trial heard.
Opening the trial on Monday, prosecutor Michael Duck KC told jurors that there was “unequivocal scientific evidence” that Ms Wandelt has no familial link to the McCanns.
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.
The trial continues.
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