The alleged stalker of Madeleine McCann’s parents told a jury she would ‘walk away’ if she saw paperwork showing she wasn’t the missing girl – despite a DNA test ‘proving’ she is not Madeleine.
Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, told jurors at Leicester Crown Court she is ’50/50′ on whether or not she is the real Madeleine.
Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, is accused of peddling the myth she is Madeleine while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address.
In court today, prosecutor Michael Duck KC asked Wandelt if she still ‘entertained’ the belief that she’s the missing girl.
‘It’s neither yes nor no. Because it is very easy to provide me with the documentation, if I am not here, and it really is negative, I would like to see the documentation,’ she said.
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‘Now, I would say I’m 50/50. What’s the issue with providing the whole paperwork?’
Asked what would satisfy her, Wandelt raised her voice and tearfully told the jury: ‘An investigation into my disappearance, into what happened to me, why am I here?’
Mr Duck asked Wandelt: ‘If you had seen a negative DNA test result, would you have walked away?’
Wandelt replied: ‘If I received the entire paperwork, yes, I would walk away.’
The Polish national told the jury she believed Mr McCann was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Asked what this belief was based on, Wandelt said: ‘Mostly based on memories, also based on the way he came across, not letting Kate tell anything. The memories are the main reason I think that was the case.’
Wandelt recalled a memory to the court of ‘repeatedly’ being told ‘this is the only way to help your parents’.
‘I didn’t want to say the thing that would incriminate him (Mr McCann). I don’t want to say anything bad about them,’ she added.
Mr Duck asked Wandelt about a letter she addressed to Mrs McCann, which said ‘Dear Mum (Kate)’ and was signed off ‘Madeleine’.
In the letter, Wandelt wrote, ‘I’m so sorry for causing you so much distress.’
Mr Duck pressed her further, suggesting it was Wandelt apologising for distressing her.
Wandelt replied: ‘She said I was causing her distress, I didn’t apologise because I recognise it as distress.’
Asked whether her appearance at the McCanns’ home in December last year was intimidating, Wandelt said: ‘No, I don’t think it’s intimidating.
‘If I were looking for my daughter missing for 18 years, I would be OK speaking with the person saying they were my missing child.’
Wandelt and 61-year-old Karen Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking between June 2022 and February this year.
The trial continues.
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