Madeleine McCann’s sister, Amelie, has told Leicester Crown Court it was “creepy” that alleged stalker Julia Wandelt sent her messages detailing apparent memories she had from their childhood.
Giving evidence remotely, Miss McCann said Facebook messages from Wandelt, 24, in January 2024 made her feel uncomfortable.
Prosecutor Nadia Silver said the messages from Wandelt, who has claimed to be the missing girl, included requests for a DNA test and alleged memories from their childhood such as playing Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses with other children.
Asked how the messages made her feel, Miss McCann said: “It makes me feel quite uncomfortable because it is quite creepy she is giving those details and trying to play with my emotions.”
Amelie has said she did not want Julia Wandelt to get a DNA test because she “always knew that she wasn’t Madeleine”.
Questioned on whether she replied to any of the messages sent to her by Wandelt, Amelie McCann told the jury at Leicester Crown Court: “No, I didn’t think it was appropriate to get involved and I don’t usually reply to people I don’t know, to protect myself really.”
Prosecutor Nadia Silver continued: “At any point, did you want to do a DNA test with Julia Wandelt?”
Miss McCann replied: “No.”
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.”
Amelie McCann has told the jury that there was a “sound of desperation” in messages sent to her by Julia Wandelt claiming to be her missing sister Madeleine.
Asked about how the message made her feel, she said: “It was quite distressing to see the messages. As you can see, it’s a long message and there’s a sound of desperation in her message which puts quite a lot of stress on me.
“I felt uncomfortable about it because I don’t want to receive messages like that.”
The court heard that in the first message to Amelie in January 2024, Wandelt said she had “so many flashbacks”, adding: “I know so many things. I don’t know if this is the real account for Amelie McCann but I can tell you my memories.”
Questioned about how she felt about Wandelt’s messages about Madeleine’s childhood, Miss McCann said: “It is quite disturbing that she’s coming up with these supposed memories even though she’s not Madeleine.”
Amelie McCann, told the court that she had become aware of her family’s alleged stalker before she messaged her on social media.
Prosecutor Nadia Silver asked Miss McCann: “Can you help us with the first time you were aware of somebody called Julia Wandelt?”
Madeleine’s sister replied: “I’m not fully sure on exact timings but I’m aware that I knew of her before she contacted me because I think it was in the media.”
Ms Silver continued: “How had you become aware of her?”
Miss McCann replied: “I think the police had got in touch with my parents about it and I think it was maybe on the news as well.”
The prosecutor went on: “At that time were you aware of contact with any other members of your family?”
Miss McCann replied: “No.”
Miss McCann also said she blocked Wandelt from viewing her profile on social media platform TikTok because it made her feel uncomfortable.
She said: “I think at the time I must have blocked her on quite a few platforms. On TikTok you can see when someone is viewing your profile and it was such a regular occurrence, I felt uncomfortable about that so I definitely blocked her on that.
“On Facebook, her messages were sat in a message requests box, I think that’s why I didn’t block her on that. But I think I did after that.”
