I AM MADELEINE MCCANN.” — The chilling message that stopped a retired detective cold. 😳
After years on the £13M search for the missing girl, he thought he’d seen it all — until a woman began sending him letters, photos, and eight detailed reasons why she was Madeleine herself.
She called herself “the forgotten child,” and what she sent next — a piece of so-called “proof” that matched one detail never released to the public — has left investigators terrified they might’ve missed something all along.
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Madeleine McCann ‘stalker sent police eight reasons why she was missing girl’
A detective – formerly part of a £13million operation to find Madeleine McCann- said he was contacted by a ‘stalker’ claiming to be the missing girl, who also sent him apparent ‘evidence’
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A detective working on the £13million operation to find Madeleine McCann has given evidence in court today(Image: PA)
A detective who worked on the Madeleine McCann missing case claimed a “stalker” gave police “eight reasons” why she was the missing girl.
The trial of two women, Julia Wandelt, 24, and Karen Spragg, 61, accused of stalking the McCann family has heard from one of the detectives part of the £13million Scotland Yard probe into the Madeleine case. Det Con Mark Draycott, who was an officer on Operation Grange, told Leicester Crown Court that he was contacted by Wandelt – who has allegedly claimed to be Madeleine – in June 2022.
The detective told jurors the 24-year-old called him claiming she was the missing girl – who went missing while on a family holiday in Portugal, in 2007.
DC Draycott told jurors Operation Grange, which he worked on from 2011 to March, was set up “to try to discover what happened to Madeleine McCann”. The detective said the 24-year-old Polish national then sent him an email including “eight reasons why I could be Maddie” and photos of herself, the court heard.
Draycott said he wrote a police report after speaking with Wandelt, which stated “this girl is not Madeleine McCann”. In the report he said the Polish national “has different eye features, is not Madeleine’s age and seems to have mental health problems”.
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The detective told the court Wandelt (pictured) called him and sent an email claiming she was the missing girl(Image: help-for-julia-wandelt/gogetfunding)
The detective said he later rang her “to reassure her she was not Madeleine McCann”. He told the court: “We used our professional expertise from studying the photos to say she was not Madeleine McCann. She was relieved to know she was not Madeleine McCann.”
In a phone call to Wandelt, played in court, the detective told the woman there would be no DNA test. In the call, he said: “We are not testing DNA. We can’t spend public money on something like this.
“We know that you are not Madeleine McCann. You are not the first person. We are happy, we are satisfied – the team that work on this investigation – that you are not Madeleine McCann.”
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Kate and Gerry McCann gave evidence in this trial on Wednesday (pictured in 2017)(Image: Getty Images)
The court also heard from Rev Robert Gladstone, the vicar of Rothley Parish Church, today. The vicar said he has known the McCann family since Madeleine went missing.
Rev Gladstone told the court he met Wandelt at a vigil last year to mark the anniversary of the disappearance. He said: “She said she was Madeleine. She said her real parents were in fact Kate and Gerry McCann.
“Pretty instantly, from what I know of Gerry and Kate, and seeing Sean and Amelie grow up over the years, her physique bore no resemblance to the McCann family. I could see no way she was related.”
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Karen Spragg has been accused of one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress(Image: PA)
Polish national Wandelt is on trial accused of stalking the McCanns for over two and a half years while allegedly claiming she was the missing girl.
She is on trial alongside co-accused Karen Spragg, from Cardiff, who has been accused of one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, after she allegedly made calls, sent letters and visited the McCann’s home address. The trial continues.
