Cliff Notes
- Linda McQueen, a lifelong friend of Kate McCann, has known her for 55 years and describes their relationship as close and familial.
- McQueen highlighted the “very persistent and overwhelming” nature of Julia Wandelt’s contact with McCann, marking a notable increase in 2024.
- After discovering a Facebook message from Wandelt, which had been in her spam inbox since August 2024, McQueen expressed feeling protective and disturbed by the situation.
Madeleine McCann’s sister tells trial of ‘creepy’ messages from woman claiming to be missing girl – as it happened | UK News
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Linda McQueen says she has known Kate McCann for 55 years. They used to live on the same road in Liverpool and went on holidays as families together.
McQueen and McCann are described as “lifelong friends”.
McQueen says she first became aware of Julia Wandelt in 2023, then more frequently in 2024 when events “gathered momentum” and she became aware of Kate’s “distress”.
Asked to describe the nature of the contact between Wandelt and McCann, McQueen calls it “very persistent contact” and “very overwhelming”.
She says she received a message on Facebook in August 2024 but didn’t become aware of the message until February 2025 as it had been in her spam inbox.
“She wanted to get through to everybody who knew Kate… Kate seemed to be the main target, I felt.”
McQueen says she was prompted to check her spam inbox after being told by her daughter, Ellie McQueen (who the court heard from before the lunch break), that Wandelt had contacted her in the same way.
“I was a bit confused how she’d got through to Ellie. I was shocked, I felt quite upset by that. I feel protective over all of this… then I realised I had them as well.”
At this point, she says she discovered a second message, sent in February 2025.