🔗 Share this article

Madeleine McCann brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, have told the court that their encounters with an alleged harasser were extremely disturbing and unsettling. The siblings described feeling stressed and scared by a woman who insisted she was their missing sister.

Relentless Contact Detailed as Scary

Testifying via video link, Amelie stated how the defendant, the 24-year-old, reached out to her repeatedly through online platforms and written correspondence. She said the relentlessness was very frightening because you don’t know what she’ll do next.

Messages from the defendant were presented in court, in which she described recollections of living in the McCann household that she said were recalled during hypnotherapy. Amelie told the court, It's very upsetting that she’s coming up with these supposed recollections, despite the fact she’s not Maddie.

Fabricated Pictures Increased Unease

Jurors learned that Wandelt had produced images of Amelie and herself as young girls, which the prosecution said were generated with ChatGPT. Some of these images were transmitted through social media, while others were printed and enclosed in a letter to her.

She said, It was unpleasant, it made me feel very uncomfortable. It was evident she edited the pictures to make me look more like her, which was quite distressing. I was aware I didn’t look like that, I understood it had been manipulated.

Psychological Impact on the Family

Amelie also spoke about the impact of the alleged harassment on her parent, their mother, who gave evidence about being approached at home by Wandelt and her co-defendant, Karen Spragg.

In my opinion my mother found it the hardest. She was targeted by the defendant more than the others in the family and I believe it definitely had a negative effect on her and her wellbeing, Amelie said. It's distressing when a person is begging you to believe them and manipulating your feelings, to the point you are doubting your own judgment.

Brother's Statement on Stress and Online Scrutiny

In a witness statement presented to the court, Sean McCann stated that for him, he had not been too badly impacted by the defendant's accused harassment. But he had been distressed that she was drawing online attention, with people posting hurtful and unjust comments about his mother and father.

If she was not mentally ill and was fully aware she is not Madeleine, yet continues to assert she is, that would be very upsetting for me, he testified. I am convinced she is my sibling. The fact that the defendant is doing this has caused me a great deal of stress and I consider it deeply disturbing.

Wandelt and Spragg deny harassing the McCann household. Proceedings are ongoing.