Amelie McCann, the younger sister of missing Madeleine, has told how she received messages on Facebook from a woman claiming to be her sister.
Miss McCann, 20, gave evidence via video link at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday.
During her testimony, she explained to the court that she chose not to inform her family about Julia Wandelt’s messages on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok to avoid causing her parents any further stress.
When questioned by prosecutor Nadia Silver about whether she responded to any of these messages, Miss McCann, wearing a softly patterned black blouse, quietly stated, ‘No, I did not think it was appropriate to engage. I generally do not respond to unknown individuals as a precaution for my own safety.’
Jurors were told Wandelt sent a letter to Miss McCann along with photographs of them both in a bid to demonstrate their supposed likeness.
Miss McCann expressed her discomfort, saying, ‘I found it unsettling. She had manipulated and altered the images to resemble me more closely, which was quite disturbing.’
Miss Silver inquired if Miss McCann ever considered taking a DNA test due to doubts about Wandelt being her sister, questioning why she was so convinced otherwise.
‘I think because she was on the radar of the police and my family since 2022 nothing had happed in that time … then I just knew that it wasn’t her.
Amelie McCann pictured at a vigil for missing Madeleine held annually in Leicestershire (her father Gerry and mother, Kate, are pictured rear)
Miss McCann, 20, told a court Julia Wandelt attempted to contact her claiming to be her lost sister Madeleine (pictured)
A court sketch of Julia Wandelt (left) and Karen Spragg in the dock at Leicester Crown Court
‘I sensed there would be certain traits or recognitions if she were truly related, yet she didn’t resemble us. Besides, she is Polish with known Polish parents, and it simply didn’t make sense to me,’ Miss McCann replied.
A statement from Sean McCann was read to the court by Miss Silver.
In her statement, she concluded: ‘I do not believe she is my sister. Her actions have caused me significant stress, and I find it incredibly disturbing.’
The court heard that in one message from Wandelt to Miss McCann said ‘I will do whatever is needed to prove my identity’. Miss Silver asked: ‘How did you interpret that message, how did it make you feel?
Miss McCann said: ‘It is clear that she thinks she is Madeleine and she can’t understand why no one is helping her to get proof or whatever and she thinks I would have told my parents to listen to her.’
Miss Silver said: ‘The passage where she says she will do whatever is needed, how did that in particular make you feel?
‘It made me feel not scared but it kind of shows you the lengths she would go to try and get heard which is also a bit scary as you don’t know what she will do next.’
Earlier, a statement from the McCanns’ neighbour Dr Alex Milton about the night Wandelt and her ‘supporter’ Karen Spragg turned up was read to the court.
He has a Ring doorbell which captured a white car said to belong to Spragg.
Spragg, 61, of Cardiff, and Wandelt, 24, from Poland, are on trial accused of stalking the McCanns.
On Monday, Wandelt was ushered from court crying hysterically after screaming ‘why are you doing this?’ at the missing girl’s mother.
In dramatic scenes during Mrs McCann’s testimony, Wandelt started sobbing uncontrollably before shouting and being taken out of the dock as a judge called for a break in proceedings.
It came after an emotional Mrs McCann, 57, told Leicester Crown Court that 18 years on from her daughter’s disappearance all she wants is for Madeleine to be back and ‘calling me mum’.
Wandelt is accused of calling, leaving voicemails, sending messages and turning up at the McCanns’ home demanding a DNA test to prove she is Madeleine, despite ‘unequivocal evidence’ to the contrary. Wandelt is 24 – Madeleine would be 22 now.
Also on trial is her ‘supporter’ Karen Spragg, 61, who is accused of stalking the McCanns, causing ‘serious alarm or distress’, from June 1, 2022, to February 21 this year. Both deny the charges.
Asked about the impact of a letter sent by Wandelt addressed ‘Dear Mom’ and signed ‘Madeleine’, Mrs McCann said: ‘Obviously that is the thing I want most, for Madeleine to be back and to be calling me ‘mum’. That was really stressful for me. Referring to me as her mum is hard.’
She said the ‘incessant’ nature of Wandelt’s contact made her consider taking a DNA test, even though she knew from looking at photos she was not her daughter.
Gerry McCann, giving evidence later, told how he was left ‘angry and frustrated’ by Wandelt’s ‘unrelenting’ attempts to contact his wife. He became emotional when describing how he discovered she had also contacted their twins, Madeleine’s younger siblings Sean and Amelie, now aged 20.
He said there was ‘no evidence Madeleine was dead’ and people claiming to be her only hampered the investigation into her disappearance. Speaking of the twins, Mr McCann, 57, a consultant cardiologist, said: ‘We have done our best to try to protect them.’
After pausing to compose himself, he went on: ‘Given what has happened to Madeleine we try keep them out of the media as much as possible.’
Micheal Duck, prosecuting, told Mr McCann to ‘take whatever time you like’ as he struggled to talk though his tears. Mr McCann added: ‘As a parent you want to try to protect your children. We know social media can be really damaging, all the horrible things that have been written about us and nasty stuff online.’
He said the assertion by Wandelt that she was Madeleine was ‘very emotive and distressing’.
‘We know she’s not our daughter,’ he said. ‘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’s [a] wider effect that is more damaging.’
He said he also feared Wandelt’s attempts could become physical.
Mrs McCann was also asked about an annual vigil for Madeleine in their home village of Rothley, near Leicester, which Wandelt turned up to in May 2024. She had hoped to speak to the McCanns but they did not attend that year.
Mr Duck asked: ‘What was your feeling about her presence?’ Mrs McCann replied: ‘It [the annual vigil] is quite a hard but positive experience. It would have taken away from the actual reason we were there.’
Eight months later, having again travelled from Poland, Wandelt turned up at the McCanns’ home with Spragg. Mrs McCann said she returned from a swimming gala in Sheffield and was taking items out of her car when she heard a woman shout ‘Kate’.
‘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,’ she told jurors.
Asked by Mr Duck how she felt to be ‘greeted in that manner on your driveway’, Mrs McCann said: ‘I got a fright… I felt quite distressed. Then they followed me, I remember trying to close the door and Julia trying to stop me.’
The trial continues. ? To learn more about this case, search for The Trial of the McCann ‘Stalkers’, wherever you get your podcasts.
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