Alleged stalker persisted with calls 'to help Kate McCann'

A WOMAN accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents has told a jury she persisted in calling Kate McCann because she wanted to help her but would “respect her decision” if the mother told her to leave her alone.

- SOPHIE ROBINSON and STEPHANIE WAREHAM

Leicester Crown Court heard that Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, felt “ashamed” to have received around £400 from people wanting to help her get answers about her identity because she “knows what it looks like”.

Prosecutors allege Wandelt, from Lubin in southwest Poland, claimed she is Madeleine - who disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007 - while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann by sending emails, making calls and turning up at their home.

Giving evidence yesterday, Wandelt told the jury she did not mean to upset Mrs McCann, adding that she wanted to assist her.

She said: “I got the impression that police did not pass any information to Kate and Gerry. I just thought they were misled and I just wanted to explain”

Wandelt said she wanted to speak to Mrs McCann to “explain all the pieces of evidence” and the memories she had, adding that the chance she could be Madeleine outweighed the “potential disappointment” for the McCanns.

She said: “If you compared false hope and potential truth coming out... I'm not a mother but I have younger siblings. If my sister or brother went missing I would do everything... if I had a little hope”

She told the court she could remember being “held with other girls” and abused, including “some faces and certain names and what the place looked like”.