Vigil organiser ‘stunned’ by alleged McCann stalker’s approach, jury told

The organiser of an annual vigil held to mark the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has told a court she was “stunned” after being approached by the alleged stalker of the missing girl’s parents.

Julia Wandelt, who Leicester Crown Court heard believes she is Madeleine, and Karen Spragg are on trial charged with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann.

Janet Kennedy said Ms Wandelt went to the 3 May 2024 vigil, to mark Madeleine’s disappearance on the same day in Portugal in 2007, and gave her an envelope before asking to speak to the girl’s parents.

Mrs Kennedy said she “tried to be polite” and took the envelope but later destroyed it. Ms Wandelt and Mrs Spragg deny the charges.

Giving evidence on Friday, Mrs Kennedy, Madeleine’s great-aunt, told the jury she had “always been there” for the family and was “a confidante” to Kate McCann.

She said she had seen media reporting about Ms Wandelt’s claims before the 2024 vigil in Rothley, Leicestershire – which she said she helped organise each year – and added Mrs McCann had told her about someone “sending messages”.

Mrs Kennedy told the court rain disrupted her preparations, with last year’s vigil moved inside the nearby Baptist Church.

As people were gathering, parish priest Rev Robert Gladstone – who also gave evidence on Friday – told the court he was approached by someone who said her name was Julia, asking to be introduced to the McCanns.

Rev Gladstone, who led the 2024 service, said he “bluffed” as he was busy and aware Mr and Mrs McCann were not attending, but after the service, said Ms Wandelt told him “she was Madeleine, she had been abused as a child and the people that brought her up weren’t her real parents”.

Rev Gladstone said he “pretty instantly” dismissed Ms Wandelt’s claim and did not plan to take her to any family.

But Mrs Kennedy said a minister approached her to say someone wanted to speak to a family member.

That person, she told the court, was Ms Wandelt “with a male friend”.

Mrs Kennedy said Ms Wandelt told her she “was Madeleine” and had an envelope for the McCanns “with information that would prove she was”.

She said she “tried to stay courteous and calm”, but told the jury she was “stunned” and took the envelope before telling Ms Wandelt to contact investigators working on Operation Grange – the Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Mrs Kennedy added: “I think one’s recognition of someone is something that is intuitive. You just know the person.

“It was now 17 years on, but the essential person that Madeleine is, was not there. Her eyes were not the same.”

Mrs Kennedy said that Mrs McCann later told her she did not want the letter, but she kept hold of it for months before tearing it up after – the jury was told – Ms Wandelt visited the family home with Mrs Spragg on 7 December 2024 and began “bombarding” the couple with calls.

The court heard a later email was sent to the parish church office – addressed to “Father Rob” – in February, just over a week before the defendants were arrested at Bristol Airport.

In it, Ms Wandelt said she “firmly” believed she was Madeleine due to DNA evidence and physical similarities, the jury was told.

Rev Gladstone said: “It meant nothing to me.”

The court then heard from Det Con Mark Draycott, a Met Police officer attached to Operation Grange for more than a decade.

He recalled a call from Ms Wandelt, made from a mental hospital in Poland on 18 June 2022, several days after she had rung the hospital, where the McCanns worked, to speak to Mr McCann.

She was asked to email, with an eight-point list sent to police the same day – including assertions Ms Wandelt had the same eye marking as Madeleine, that she appears younger than her birth certificate states, and claiming she had been “molested” by a suspect in the disappearance.

Her case was investigated with police ruling her out of their inquiries – which Det Con Draycott told the court was a “relief” to Ms Wandelt.

But after becoming aware of the defendant’s visit to the vigil in 2024 and then Charing Cross police station to have DNA – which was later destroyed – taken, Det Con Draycott said he called Ms Wandelt to say “in no uncertain terms” that she was not Madeleine.

The conversation – which was played in court – was recorded without Det Con Draycott’s knowledge, the jury heard, and uploaded to a YouTube crime podcast with Ms Wandelt.

Ms Wandelt, 24, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, and Mrs Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, each deny one count of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.

The trial continues.