Leicester Crown Court heard on Thursday that it is “blindingly obvious” Wandelt is not the missing toddler.<\/p>\n
But Wandelt wept as she told jurors, “I do believe I’m her”.<\/p>\n
During cross-examination, prosecutor Michael Duck KC asked the defendant: “There is no scientific evidence to connect you to the McCanns, is there?”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skynews-karen-spragg-julia-wandelt_7045923.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n A previous court sketch of Karen Spragg (left) and Julia Wandelt (right), with Kate McCann sitting behind a blue curtain. Pic: PA<\/p>\n
‘I’m just exhausted with it’<\/p>\n
Visibly and audibly emotional, she told the court: “Actually, I don’t care anymore. If people here say I’m not, you know what, I’m OK with it. I’m just exhausted with it.<\/p>\n
“I want to know who I am. If I’m not, I’m not. It’s fine. I’m exhausted.<\/p>\n
“I do believe I’m her. I do remember them but I’m exhausted, I’m completely exhausted with all of this.<\/p>\n
“If that is the conclusion, then I am willing to say I agree with this. But I am exhausted.”<\/p>\n
Asked if she believes Madeleine’s father, Gerry, could be her father, she replied: “It’s neither no nor yes.”<\/p>\n
![\"Madeleine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skynews-madelene-mccann-portugal_7050052.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Madeleine McCann went missing during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007. Pic: PA<\/p>\n
‘Blindingly obvious’<\/p>\n
Mr Duck told her: “One thing that’s blindingly obvious is that your (DNA) profile and Madeleine’s did not match.”<\/p>\n
He then asked: “Assuming the profile is Madeleine’s, do you accept that by simply looking at it, it has nothing to do with you?”<\/p>\n
Wandelt said: “Assuming that this belongs to Madeleine, then yes.”<\/p>\n
Read more from the trial: Then asked why she thought the McCanns did not respond to her calls and messages, she said: “Maybe they were not allowed to. I just could not believe, and still cannot believe, the parents of a missing child don’t want to follow a lead.”<\/p>\n ‘I wasted three-and-a-half years of my life’<\/p>\n She added: “But I wasted three-and-a-half years of my life working out who I am… I think I’m in the wrong place. I should not be in the witness box today.”<\/p>\n Wandelt and co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking between June 2022 and February this year.<\/p>\n Spragg will not be called to give evidence in her defence, the jury heard on Thursday.<\/p>\n The trial will continue on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who allegedly stalked Madeleine McCann’s family broke down in tears as she told a jury she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-235394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann confronted parents<\/a>
Alleged stalker had ‘genuine belief’ she was missing girl<\/a><\/p>\n