![\"Julia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2.79125536.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPolish national Julia Wandelt (24) told jurors at Leicester Crown Court that she would \u201cwalk away\u201d if she saw the full paperwork proving she was not the girl who went missing during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, peddled the myth she is Madeleine while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Julia Wandelt denies stalking the McCanns. Photo: Elizabeth Cook\/PA<\/p>\n
During cross-examination yesterday, prosecutor Michael Duck KC asked Wandelt: \u201cAs we stand here, do you still entertain the belief that you could be Madeleine McCann?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt told the court: \u201cIt\u2019s neither yes nor no. Because it is very easy to provide me with the documentation, so if I am not her, and it really is negative, I would like to see the documentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I would say I\u2019m 50\/50. What\u2019s the issue with providing the whole paperwork?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIt will be neither yes nor no. It is not yes and not no.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Mr Duck asked again: \u201cDo you, Julia Wandelt, believe you may still be Madeleine McCann?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt replied: \u201cIt will be neither yes nor no. It is not yes and not no. I am in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what would satisfy her, Wandelt raised her voice and tearfully told the jury: \u201cAn investigation into my disappearance, into what happened to me, why am I here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked Wandelt: \u201cIf you had seen a negative DNA test result, would you have walked away?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt replied: \u201cIf I received the entire paperwork, yes, I would walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Polish national told the jury she believed Mr McCann was involved in Madeleine\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n
Asked what this belief was based on, Wandelt said: \u201cMostly based on memories, also based on the way he came across, not letting Kate tell anything. The memories are the main reason I think that was the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt recalled a memory to the court of \u201crepeatedly\u201d being told \u201cthis is the only way to help your parents\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI didn\u2019t want to say the thing that would incriminate him [Mr McCann]. I don\u2019t want to say anything bad about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI do not believe they [the McCanns] participate in this because of their own will<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
She also told the court that it was \u201cstrange\u201d that Madeleine\u2019s case has \u201chuge financial resources\u201d, and suggested it could be \u201cmoney laundering\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wandelt said: \u201cI do not believe they [the McCanns] participate in this because of their own will. I believed that this case, the Madeleine McCann case, received a huge amount of money … I do believe this is because of some money laundering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked Wandelt about a memory she claimed to have of Ms McCann coming to her room before she was abducted, rubbing her head and saying she would find her.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor asked: \u201cIs that, Miss Wandelt, a genuine memory?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt said: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked: \u201cAre you asserting to this jury that Kate McCann knew of the abduction and told you she would find you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt replied: \u201cYes … I still believe Kate didn\u2019t want it to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also told the jury: \u201cThey [Mr and Ms McCann] are not guilty in my point of view, they had no other choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt also suggested that if Mr and Ms McCann were related to each other it would explain \u201cmismatches\u201d in their genetic profiles, and suggested that Madeleine\u2019s profile was not created from her DNA.<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked: \u201cDo you accept your DNA bears no resemblance to Madeleine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt replied: \u201cYes, I understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said: \u201cIsn\u2019t that the end of this charade? Your story, your fabrication?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt said: \u201cIt\u2019s not fabrication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked Wandelt about a letter she addressed to Ms McCann, which said \u201cDear Mum [Kate]\u201d and was signed off \u201cMadeleine\u201d. In the letter, the jury heard, Wandelt wrote: \u201cI\u2019m so sorry for causing you so much distress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Duck asked: \u201cThat\u2019s you apologising for distressing her, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt replied: \u201cShe said I was causing her distress, I didn\u2019t apologise because I recognise it as distress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandelt and Karen Spragg (61), of Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking between June 2022 and February this year. The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polish national Julia Wandelt (24) told jurors at Leicester Crown Court that she would \u201cwalk away\u201d if she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,45880,15,16,5,379,6642,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-154443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-madeleine-mccann","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-poland","20":"tag-portugal","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115466337569501446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}