Madeleine McCann 'stalker' dad asked her 'do you think we bought you from Kate?'
Julia Wandelt was taken for questioning at a police station in Leicester where she was asked dozens of questions. She is on trial alongside Karen Spragg accused of stalking the McCann family
A woman on trial accused of stalking missing Madeleine McCann's family has claimed her dad ask her if she thought he had bought her from Kate and Gerry McCann.
Julia Wandelt blurted out the bizarre theory during her police interview following her arrest at Bristol Airport after she landed from a Ryanair flight from Poland in February. She had been arrested for stalking and police asked a series of questions about why she claimed she was Madeleine McCann.
The 24 year old was taken for questioning at a police station in Leicester where she was asked dozens of questions. A jury at Leicester Crown Court has today heard the police interviews read out to them. Wandelt answered "no comment" to the majority of questions from officers.
But one question from Pc Tom Szyszlak prompted her to say: "I believe that my parents could have had another child, my father said to me: I hope you don't think we drowned our first child and brought you from the McCann's'."
The court heard she went on to answer no comment to questions over when she first contacted the McCann family, what evidence she had to prove she was Madeleine and whether she had attended the McCann family home. She suddenly broke her silence and replied: "I'm only asking for a fricking DNA test". She later added: "[The police] have never looked at my evidence properly, it doesn't seem fair."
The court heard the officer then read a statement from Maddie's mum Kate McCann to Wandelt, to which she again broke her chain of no comment responses. She told the officer, during the interview in February: "I never wanted to cause them any distress, to make them stressed, sad or anything, i never wanted to get attention."
She added that she was "sad" to hear Mrs McCann's statement before adding: "Why cant they do the DNA test with me, why not, despite all the evidence I have, why not." She added that she read that other girls DNA had been tested, so questioned why not hers too. She told the officer: "I know the press can lie, they lied about me."
The McCann's daughter Madeleine went missing while left with her younger siblings in a holiday apartment while her parents went for a meal in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.
Wandelt is accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann and is alleged to have attended the family home in Leicestershire. She is also accused of sending a letter, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, and sending Amelie and Sean McCann messages.
Spragg is also charged with one count of stalking. The offences are alleged to have taken place between June 2022 and February 2025. The trial continues.