The mother of missing Madeleine McCann has begun giving evidence in the trial of two women accused of stalking her and her family. Kate McCann was shielded from the dock by a curtain at Leicester Crown Court as she entered the witness box at the trial of 24-year-old Polish national Julia Wandelt and 61-year-old Karen Spragg. Jurors previously heard that Wandelt, from Lubin in South-west Poland, claimed to be the missing girl and had turned up at the McCanns’ family home and signed a letter addressed to them as Madeleine.
After the judge told jurors that the use of a screen was “entirely usual” and did not reflect on the defendants in any way, Mrs McCann began by saying she first became aware of the existence of Wandelt about three years ago. Michael Duck KC, prosecuting, then confirmed that the first attempts to contact the McCann family by Wandelt occurred on June 24, 2022.
Mrs McCann said she became aware through officers working on Operation Grange, the Met Police inquiry into her daughter’s 2007 disappearance, that Wandelt believed herself to be Madeleine.
Mr Duck then read excerpts of messages Wandelt sent to Mrs McCann, in which the defendant said “let me prove I am not a liar” and “give me a chance, I don’t want money”.
After confirming that she could remember the messages “arriving” at her mobile phone, Mrs McCann was asked by Mr Duck if she had responded to the messages.
Mrs McCann answered: “No. I did not want to engage.”
Mr Duck told jurors how Wandelt had attended a vigil on May 3, 2024, held in Madeleine’s hometown of Leicestershire.
After Mrs McCann confirmed that she and her husband Gerry were not present at the event, the barrister asked: “You weren’t present, but did you become aware that Julia Wandelt had come to that vigil?”
Mrs McCann answered “yes” as the court heard that Wandelt claimed to have handed a letter to Madeleine’s great-aunt during the event.
Asked how she felt about hearing Wandelt had attended, Mrs McCann told the jury: “If I am honest, I was relieved we weren’t there.
“It (the annual vigil) is quite a hard but positive experience. It would have taken away from the actual reason we were there.”
Mr Duck KC also quizzed Mrs McCann about a voicemail message left on her phone by Wandelt, which asked her and her husband, Gerry, to undergo a DNA test.
He said: “Was that something you had a willingness or desire to do?”
Mrs McCann replied: “If I’m honest, because of the persistence of Julia’s behaviour, it did start to get to me.
“I almost wanted a DNA test to put it to bed… from the photographs.. I knew it wasn’t her.”
Wandelt and Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny a count of stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
Madeleine’s disappearance from Portugal’s Algarve in 2007 remains unsolved.
The trial continues.