Fake Madeleine demanded DNA test on my doorstep, Kate McCann tells court

Three-year-old Madeleine went missing from her family’s apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar. Photo / Getty Images

A Polish woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann went to the family home to beg the missing girl’s mother – who she called “mum” – to take a DNA test, a court heard.

Julia Wandelt said, “Why won’t you do a DNA test?” and tried to stop Kate McCann from closing her front door during the incident last December.

Kate McCann said Wandelt’s persistent behaviour, including continuous calls, texts and emails, had started to “get to” her so much that she even considered taking a test in order to “put it to bed”.

However, she told jurors at Leicester Crown Court she knew that Wandelt, 24, was not her missing daughter after looking at photographs of her.

Wandelt denies stalking Kate and Gerry McCann, as well as their other two children, between June 2022 and February this year.

Three-year-old Madeleine went missing from her family’s apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

Karen Spragg is charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, in connection with an investigation into the alleged stalking of Madeleine McCann's family. Photo / Getty Images

The court previously heard that Wandelt had become obsessed with the “myth” she was Madeleine and had been taken to Poland after claiming to have memories of the disappearance.

On Wednesday, Kate McCann was shielded from the dock by a curtain as she told jurors she had first become aware of Wandelt in 2022.

The court heard Wandelt had visited the McCanns’ address in Leicestershire on December 7 last year with Karen Spragg, 61, who is also charged with stalking.

After pulling up on the drive and opening her car boot, Kate McCann said she “heard someone say ‘Kate’”. She added: “She called me mum, I think. She was asking for a DNA test – ‘why won’t you do a DNA test?’ – and pleading with me.”

The court heard that Spragg asked: “Don’t you want to find your daughter?”

Kate McCann said the interaction had left her “quite distressed”, particularly after Wandelt tried to stop her from closing her front door.

Kate and Gerry McCann pictured in 2017. Photo / Getty Images

Jurors heard that Wandelt sent a letter the next day, saying: “Mum, I don’t like seeing you upset.” The court heard she also sent a letter asking Kate McCann to “let me prove I am not a liar” and to “give me a chance”.

Gerry McCann said the two women “definitely” showed no sign of leaving when they attended the family home in December, and had started banging on the door and “shouting”.

He said of his interaction with the women: “I think it was straight away I said the Metropolitan Police eliminated Julia from the inquiries.

“She [Spragg] said something about a cover-up and also of me being a member of the Masons. I was pretty astounded. I don’t know much about the Masons, I did not know they allow Catholics in – I said something like that. She said again about covering up.”

Gerry McCann said that Wandelt was holding a plastic folder that she was trying to “force into his hand”. Prosecutor Michael Duck KC asked whether he was prepared to take what Wandelt was trying to give him. He replied: “No. I was trying to get inside the house.”

Speaking about the impact Wandelt’s claims had on him, Gerry McCann said: “Well, we know she’s not our daughter. It has many effects – we don’t know what happened to Madeleine. There’s no evidence to say she’s dead. We really hope, and we know it’s only a glimmer, that Madeleine is alive.

“When so many people claim to be our missing daughter, it inevitably pulls your heartstrings, but there is a wider effect that is more damaging.”

Gerry McCann said there were people that “crazily” believe conspiracy theories, including that he and his wife Kate do not want to find their missing daughter. He added: “That’s detrimental to any existing investigation, and obviously we have always put that [the inquiry] first.”

A voicemail left on Kate McCann’s phone was played to the jury. In it, Wandelt said: “You have nothing to lose. If I’m her then everybody should be okay, but if I’m not, as you probably think, then I will leave you alone.

“I know my accent is Polish because I live here, I know I look fat and I know I’m not pretty like Madeleine was in the past, but I know what I know, I know what I remember. Please just give me a chance, I’m not a liar, I’m not crazy; I just want to know the truth. Call me or message me or whatever, please.”

Kate McCann told Duck she had not responded because she “did not want to engage”.

Asked whether she had any desire to carry out a test, Kate McCann said: “If I’m honest, because of the persistence of [her] 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.”

Kate McCann also told the jury: “I think it was getting to me so much that a little bit of my brain was saying ‘what if?’ Having seen a photo of her, she’s Polish... it doesn’t make sense.”

As the prosecution finished asking Kate McCann questions, Wandelt sobbed loudly and shouted: “Why are you doing this to me?” Officers escorted her out of the dock as she continued to cry.

Wandelt and Spragg, of Caerau, Cardiff, deny stalking.

The trial continues.

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