‘I know you loved me’: Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann confronted parents at family home

Julia Wandelt, 24, from Poland, travelled to Leicestershire to try and speak to Gerry and Kate McCann.

Julia Wandelt, a woman who claimed to be the missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, told Kate McCann: “I know you loved me,” a court has heard.

The 24-year-old woman from southwest Poland is on trial at Leicester Crown Court along with Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, accused of one count of stalking the McCann family by calling and messaging them and turning up at their home.

On the second day of questioning from her defence, Tom Price KC, Wandelt told the jury that she travelled to the McCann family home in Leicestershire, in December last year, to try and speak to Gerry and Kate McCann.

This came after she repeatedly tried to contact the parents and tried to meet them in person at an annual vigil held for Madeleine McCann.

During her time in the witness box, Wandelt said she first began thinking she may be the missing Briton when she began suffering with mental health issues and questioning her identity.

Madeleine went missing during a family holiday to Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. What exactly happened to her is not known.

Image:Julia Wandelt (left) and Karen Spragg at Leicester Crown Pic: Elizabeth Cook/PA

‘Julia, I think you need help’

Wandelt and Spragg travelled to the McCann family home and tried to speak to Mrs McCann outside the property on 7 December, 2024, the court was told.

Giving her version of the meeting, Vandelt told the jury: “I said Kate. She turned around, she started crying, I started crying.

“She started crying straight away, I got too upset. I planned to say other things, I did not say any of them.

“I said I would like to speak with you and can we speak for like two minutes? She said no. She said she will call the police. I said the police don’t care. I think I said if she wants to call the police she can – maybe I said it.”

Then, the court heard that Mrs McCann went inside the house and Wandelt “knocked” on the door while crying, still trying to talk to her.

When Maddie’s father returned home shortly after, he told Wandelt: “Julia, I think you need help,” the court heard.

Image:A court sketch of Karen Spragg (left) and Julia Wandelt (right), with Kate McCann sitting behind a blue curtain. Pic: PA

‘I know you loved me’

Prior to this meeting, Wandelt had made repeated attempts to contact Mr and Mrs McCann, she told the court. She added that she didn’t think this was harassment and that she had also tried to contact relatives and family friends.

In one message, the court was told that Wandelt said to Mrs McCann: “I know people believe Maddie’s dead, well she’s not.”

In the message Wandelt added: “I know you loved Madeleine. I know you loved me.”

Explaining her repeated attempts to contact the McCanns, Wandelt claimed that the police were failing the family and also herself and she was reaching out to help them.

Here’s a summary of some of the other top lines heard by the court in Leicester today:

• Wandelt told the court she felt “ashamed” to receive around £400 from people on the internet because she “knows what it looks like”;

• The Polish national signed off a letter to Mrs McCann, one of her repeated attempts to contact her, with: “Lots of love, Madeleine”, the jury was told;

• She also claimed to the court that contacting the family was a “last resort” and that she contacted multiple law enforcement agencies, charities and groups linked to the search for Madeleine McCann prior to that;

• The jury was similarly told that Wandelt travelled to the US with a woman called Fia Johnasson, who, the jury was told, messaged her when she set up an Instagram account called “I am Madeleine McCann”;

• While in the US, Wandelt alleged that Ms Johnasson facilitated her appearance on the Dr Phil chat show, but told the court she was not paid for it;

• And Wandelt repeatedly said she was “not a liar or attention seeker”.

The trial continues.