A 24-year-old woman claiming she’s Madeleine McCann left a relative of the missing girl ‘stunned’ by confronting her at a vigil in their home village, a court has heard.
Janet Kennedy, aunt to Madeleine’s mum Kate, told jurors Julia Wandelt, 24, came up to her and gave her documents she claimed would prove she is Madeleine at the gathering Rothely, Leicestershire, in May 2024.
Janet thought there was ‘no way’ Julia could be Madeleine, who went missing in Portugal in 2007, based on her appearance.
Wandelt, who is standing trial on stalking charges, allegedly went on to ‘bombard’ Madeleine’s parents with phone calls and turned up at their house.
The court also heard Wandelt had previously been told by British police she was not Madeleine and told a detective she was ‘relieved’ at the news.
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DC Mark Draycott, who worked on the Met Police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance for more than a decade, told jurors he phoned Wandelt in 2022 after she made her claims public.
Explaining why he did so, Dc Draycott said: ‘To reassure her she was not Madeleine McCann. I explained we had gone over all the material and used our professional expertise… to confirm she was not Madeleine McCann.
‘She actually said she was relieved not to be Madeleine McCann.’
But Wandelt, a Polish national, turned up at last year’s vigil anyway and approached the missing girl’s great-aunt.
Giving evidence on Friday, Janet told the jury: ‘She said that she was Madeleine and that she was sorry that the McCanns weren’t there, but she wished me to give them some information and she presented me with an envelope with information in that would prove she was Madeleine.
‘I was rather stunned by her approach. I looked at her and thought ‘she is not Madeleine’. There’s just no way she could be Madeleine at all.
‘I think one’s recognition of someone is something that is intuitive. You just know the person. The essential person that Madeleine is – was – was not there.
‘Even though Madeleine was nearly four when she was abducted and now I’m now meeting someone 17 years later, the essential person would still be recognisable – even though the years had moved on.
‘When Julia said she was Madeleine… with the colour of your skin, you are Polish, there are distinct differences in the way people look according to where they are from.
‘And the eyes as well. The eyes did not look like Madeleine’s eyes. So I could not accept that.’
Janet said she did not feel threatened by Wandelt but that she was ‘insistent’ about the envelope and was ‘dismissive’ toward the suggestion of showing it to the police.
Janet continued: ‘On the other hand, she was somebody I had not met before. I did not know her state of mind. I was a bit apprehensive but tried to stay courteous and calm.
‘I think it was just being confronted by the person who’s claiming to be someone that I know she wasn’t.
‘I could see the repercussions of this because there had been, before this, some media attention given to her – this was yet another upsetting experience that the family would have to go through.’
The court heard Janet held onto the letter until Madeleine’s mum ‘felt ready to be able to look at it’.
She continued: ‘Eventually, it would have been towards the end of that year, I did dispose of it – I tore it up.
‘By this time Julia was visiting the house and bombarding Kate and Gerry with emails and phone calls – it was becoming insistent and frequent.’
‘I think she built herself up that she would have been able to talk to them (the McCanns). I did not feel in any way threatened by her.’
Jurors heard Wandelt secretly recorded another phone call with DC Draycott last year and provided it for a ‘true crime’ documentary on YouTube.
Audio from the call was played to jurors, in which the detective is heard to say: ‘If you cause any harassment you could be arrested.’
Wandelt replies: ‘Is this blackmail?’ At the end of the call, she adds: ‘I will never give up.’
Wandelt and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.
The trial continues.
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