Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Amelie McCann giving evidence via video link to Leicester C (Image: PA)
The sister of Madeleine McCann has branded a Polish woman who claims to be her missing sibling “creepy” and accused her of “playing with my emotions”. Amelie McCann said she did not want to do a DNA test to prove alleged stalker Julia Wandelt was not related, saying: “I always knew that she wasn’t Madeleine, so I didn’t need to do one.”
Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, peddled the myth that she was Madeleine – who went missing in Portugal in 2007 – while stalking her parents by bombarding them with emails, phone calls and even turning up at their address. Amelie told the jury her mother Kate McCann was “stressed and on edge” after Wandelt visited her family home, calling it an “invasion” of their privacy. Wandelt had called Mrs McCann “mum” during the unexpected encounter.
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Kate and Gerry McCann (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Leicester Crown Court also heard from Amelie’s twin brother Sean who said he found Wandelt’s claims that she is Madeleine “disrespectful” and “deeply disturbing”.
In a statement read to the court, he said: “I find it disrespectful that she’s making this claim and getting a lot of attention and support for it.
“The fact Julia has no regard for how we feel about her claims is hurtful.”
He said: “I’m aware Julia may be suffering from some sort of mental health.
“If, however, she’s fully aware she is not Madeleine, yet makes these claims she is, that will be very upsetting for me. I do not believe she is my sister. The fact Julia is doing this has caused me a great deal of stress and I find it deeply disturbing.”
Mr McCann said his family have had “unwanted distress over a very sensitive and traumatic matter”, since Madeleine went missing.
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Amelie McCann said the messages she received had a “sound of desperation” which made her feel “uncomfortable”.
Asked about how she felt after she received the first batch of messages in January 2024, 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.”
Miss McCann also said Wandelt had messaged her about Madeleine’s childhood.
Questioned about how she felt about those messages, she said: “It is quite disturbing that she’s coming up with these supposed memories even though she’s not Madeleine.”
Nadia Silver, prosecuting, said the messages from Wandelt 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.”
Missing Maddie (Image: METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)
Questioned on whether she replied to any of the messages sent to her by Wandelt, Miss McCann said: “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.”
Ms 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, the witness 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.”
She added: “It’s clear that she thinks she’s Madeleine and she can’t understand why no-one is helping her to kind of get proof or whatever, and she thinks that I would have told my parents to listen to her.”
One message from Wandelt said she would “do whatever to prove my identity” as her missing sister, the court was told.
Asked by Ms Silver how the message made her feel, Miss McCann said: “It made me feel … not scared, but it shows you the lengths she would go to to try and get heard, which is a bit scary because you don’t know what she would do next.”
Questioned on why she took the view Wandelt was not her missing sister, Miss McCann said: “I think because she was on the radar of the police and my family since 2022, and nothing had happened in that time, I think, by 2024, I just knew that if that got dismissed and if the police were saying to my parents they were not going to do a DNA test, I knew it was not her.
“I had a feeling there would be something about her I would maybe recognise or believe more, whereas I did not think she looked like us, and she’s Polish and has Polish family who are her parents.
“So, it did not make sense to me.”
Wandelt and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.
The trial continues.
