'We always knew she wasn’t Madeleine’: McCann siblings tell court about ‘scary’ messages from alleged stalker

Amelie McCann told Leicester Crown Court it was “creepy” that Julia Wandelt sent her messages detailing apparent memories she had from their childhood.

Giving evidence remotely, Ms McCann said Facebook messages from Wandelt, 24, in January 2024 made her feel uncomfortable.

Prosecutor Nadia Silver said the messages from Wandelt, who has claimed to be the missing girl, included requests for a DNA test and alleged memories from their childhood such as playing Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses with other children.

Asked how the messages made her feel, Ms McCann said: “It makes me feel quite uncomfortable because it is quite creepy she is giving those details and trying to play with my emotions.”

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Wandelt's message reportedly said that she would "do whatever to prove my identity" as her missing sister.

Ms McCann said she blocked Wandelt from viewing her profile on social media platform TikTok as a result.

She said: "I think at the time I must have blocked her on quite a few platforms. On TikTok you can see when someone is viewing your profile and it was such a regular occurrence, I felt uncomfortable about that so I definitely blocked her on that."

Ms McCann said she felt “guilty” for not listening to Wandelt’s messages, but added that she was not persuaded to ask her parents to do a DNA test.

“No, I did not find it persuasive. But it does make you feel quite guilty because she’s desperate to connect and reach out to me.

“It makes me feel guilty for not listening to her request but at the same time, I know deep down it was not Madeleine so I did not feel persuaded by her,” she told the court.

The court heard that in one message Wandelt said she was writing “with hope” that Amelie could make Kate and Gerry McCann “believe there’s still hope”, adding: “I think they gave up.”

Amelie added: “It’s clear that she thinks she’s Madeleine and she can’t understand why no one is helping her to kind of get proof or whatever and she thinks that I would have told my parents to listen to her.”

She told the jury that there was a “sound of desperation” in these messages.

The court heard that in the first message to Amelie in January 2024, Wandelt said she had “so many flashbacks”, adding: “I know so many things. I don’t know if this is the real account for Amelie McCann but I can tell you my memories.”

Questioned about how she felt about Wandelt’s messages about Madeleine’s childhood, Miss McCann said: “It is quite disturbing that she’s coming up with these supposed memories even though she’s not Madeleine.”

Sean McCann, Amelie's twin, told the court he received 20 messages from Julia Wandelt on Instagram, saying he blocked her account on the platform immediately.

This made him "upset" and made him think about changing his online presence and consider deleting his last name from his online profiles.

In a statement read out in court, he branded Wandelt’s message "disrespectful" but acknowledged that "may be suffering with mental health" issues.

"I do not believe that she is my sister," the statement adds, adding that her behaviour has caused "a great deal of distress".

"I did not want anything to do with her," he added.