A woman facing allegations of stalking Madeleine McCann’s family reportedly sent a series of unsettling messages to a couple present in Portugal when the young girl disappeared. Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg are currently being tried at Leicester Crown Court, accused of stalking Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. Prosecutors claim that Wandelt propagated false assertions that she was Madeleine, persistently contacting Kate and Gerry through emails and calls, and even visiting their residence between June 2022 and February of this year.
During the trial this week, it was revealed that a DNA test conducted on Wandelt definitively proved she was not the missing child. DCI Cranwell, the senior investigating officer of Operation Grange since 2018, informed Wandelt of the test results, stating, “Your sample was submitted to the laboratory and a profile was established. This has now been compared to the profile of Madeleine McCann. You are not Madeleine McCann.”
Court proceedings detailed how Wandelt sent disturbing messages to a couple who were vacationing in Portugal when Madeleine went missing. Additionally, jurors were informed that the accused stalker contacted the daughter of David and Fiona Payne, close friends of the McCanns for approximately 25 years. Testifying in court, Mr. and Mrs. Payne disclosed that Wandelt had called and messaged them in the previous year, including sending friend requests and messages to their daughter, a situation that Mrs. Payne described as anger-inducing.
Mrs. Payne expressed her frustration with the manipulative interactions, highlighting the distress caused to their daughter by Wandelt’s actions. The couple recounted receiving a range of communications over the years but had never encountered someone claiming to be Madeleine. Wandelt, hailing from Lubin in southwest Poland, suggested in messages that a DNA test with the McCanns could exonerate members of the ‘Tapas Seven’ group, known as the ‘tapas group.’ Phone call recordings between Wandelt and Mr. Payne were played in court, where Wandelt pleaded to connect her with Kate and Gerry, emphasizing her belief of being Madeleine.
Amid the unfolding trial, it was disclosed that Wandelt sought the blood groups of the McCanns, insinuating potential memory loss due to childhood medications and hinting at attempted murder. Mr. Payne expressed surprise and concern over Wandelt’s possession of unpublished family photos. Despite Wandelt’s claims of respecting privacy, Mr. Payne found her actions distressing, particularly during a Christmas Eve message last year.
Julia Wandelt and her co-accused, Karen Spragg, aged 61, from Caerau Court Road in Cardiff, both plead not guilty to one count of stalking.
