🔗 Share this article

Maddie McCann's twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, have testified in court that their encounters with an accused stalker were extremely upsetting and unsettling. They described feeling anxious and scared by a woman who insisted she was their missing sister.

Persistent Contact Detailed as Scary

Appearing via video link, Amelie described how the accused, Julia Wandelt, reached out to her repeatedly through social media and written correspondence. She said the persistence was quite frightening because you don’t know what her next move might be.

Communications from Wandelt were presented in court, in which she recounted recollections of living in the McCann household that she said were recovered during hypnotherapy. She told the court, It’s quite upsetting that she's inventing these alleged recollections, even though she’s not Maddie.

Fabricated Pictures Heightened Unease

The court learned that Wandelt had created images of herself and Amelie as young girls, which the state said were made with AI tools. A number of these images were transmitted through social media, while others were produced physically and included in a letter to Amelie.

Amelie said, I didn’t like it, it caused me to feel very uneasy. She had clearly altered the images to make me look more like her, which was very disturbing. I was aware I didn’t look like that, I knew it had been changed.

Psychological Impact on the Family

Amelie also spoke about the impact of the alleged stalking on her parent, their mother, who testified about being approached at her residence by the defendant and her co-defendant, Karen Spragg.

In my opinion my mum experienced it as the hardest. My mother was targeted by the defendant to a greater extent than the rest of us and I believe it certainly had a negative effect on her and her wellbeing, she testified. It's distressing when someone’s pleading with you to accept their claims and manipulating your emotions, to the point you are questioning yourself.

Brother's Testimony on Anxiety and Digital Scrutiny

In a witness statement presented to the trial, Sean McCann stated that for him, he had not been too badly impacted by Wandelt's accused harassment. But he had been distressed that she was attracting social media scrutiny, with people saying nasty and unfair comments about his parents.

In the event that she was not suffering from a psychological condition and was completely conscious she is not Maddie, yet continues to assert she is, that would be very distressing for me, he said. I do not believe she is my sister. The fact that Julia is doing this has resulted in a significant amount of stress and I find it profoundly disturbing.

The defendant and Spragg deny stalking the family family. Proceedings continue.