A trial of two women accused of stalking the family of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in 2007, is continuing at Leicester Crown Court
Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in south-west Poland, and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, both deny a charge of stalking Gerry and Kate McCann
Linda McQueen and daughter Ellie McQueen - family friends of the McCanns - have been giving evidence to the trial on Thursday
Madeleine's sister Amelie also gave evidence at the stalking trial via video-link
She told the court her mother was hit the hardest by the case, and that the harassment took a "toll on her and her wellbeing"
Ms McCann told the court she did not need to do a DNA test Ms Wandelt had demanded to prove the defendant was Madeleine
Madeleine's brother Sean said in a statement that Ms Wandelt's claims she was his sister were "upsetting and disrespectful"
The court was told the messages to Linda McQueen follow similar themes as others, including Julia Wandelt claiming her DNA was a "big match" with DNA from the Portuguese crime scene.
Mrs McQueen said: "It didn't make any sense."
In another message read to the court, Julia Wandelt said she knew Linda McQueen was "Kate's best friend".
Asked about her reaction to this message, the witness said: "It was quite unnerving somebody knew so much about me.
"To have it said to you in a message is uncomfortable. It's very personal and private, your relationships with your best friend."
In another message to Mrs McQueen, the court heard Ms Wandelt wrote about "remembering things" as Madeleine.
Mrs McQueen said: "It's really upsetting, we've all got memories of Madeleine. It's appalling."
In another message, she said Ms Wandelt told her police had not tested her DNA and said they tried to intimidate her.
"It does make you feel sorry for her. Maybe she was unwell," Mrs McQueen said.
The court is looking at examples of messages from Julia Wandelt to Mrs McQueen now.
One, read out to the court, said: "From what I've learned you are one of the few people who believe that Madeleine is still alive."
Asked by Ms Silver how she felt about this message, the witness said: "It's very triggering.
"It brings it all back, you're concerned someone has information about you, your family, your friends, using it to get under Kate's skin. It was emotional for me.
"She wanted me to contact Kate, [Julia Wandelt] was trying to pressurise me."
Mrs McQueen said she was "shocked" and "felt quite upset" about her daughter Ellie being contacted by the defendant.
"You feel protective, then we realised I had them [messages] as well," she said.
The witness told the court she did not respond to any of the messages Julia Wandelt sent to her and blocked the profiles.
Mrs McQueen continues and tells the court she received a message on 28 August 2024, but "wasn't aware" as it had gone into a spam folder on Facebook Messenger.
"If you don't recognise the name or the photo, you ignore it, so I probably would have ignored it at that point," she said.
She said she became aware of the messages from Julia Wandelt in February 2025.
"There'd been a lot on the telly about Julia.
"My daughter who was with us at the time said I'd had messages from her," she added.
Mrs McQueen said she came into contact with Julia Wandelt in 2023 and spoke to the McCanns about her.
"It was very triggering to talk about these things with Kate and Gerry so I would go with their lead.
"I thought it would all go away like others have but it gathered momentum in 2024," she said.
The witness said Ms Wandelt was "very persistent" in her contact and described as it "very overwhelming".
"It wasn't just Kate but anyone who knew Kate and could get to her," she added.
Prosecutor Nadia Silver begins asking Mrs McQueen how she knows the McCanns.
She said she had known Kate McCann for 55 years when her family lived in Liverpool and they were "lifelong friends".
The witness said they went on holidays together with the family and was Sean McCann's godmother.
The court is now back in session, with the jury and defendants in their positions.
We will soon hear from Linda McQueen, a close family friend of the McCanns.
Prosecutor Nadia Silver is now on her feet about to begin.
Heather Burman
BBC News
Image source, ReutersHeather Burman
BBC News
We are into the fourth day of prosecution evidence in the trial of Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg, who are charged with stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
Here's a recap of what's been heard so far on Thursday:
George Torr
BBC News, East Midlands
While we have a break in proceedings, a reminder of what the latest witness - McCann family friend Ellie McQueen - said:
The court has now adjourned for lunch, with proceedings due to resume at 13:45.
Another message to Ms McQueen shows Ms Wandelt had discovered the witness is a family friend and knows about the close connection between her mother Linda and the McCanns.
Other messages again go over familiar territory - requests by the defendants for DNA testing, police threats and corruption, and memories of being Madeleine.
Asked what she thought about this, the witness said: "I thought it was quite disturbing, [it] made me feel quite uncomfortable.
"For someone to say they remember memories was quite difficult."
Ms Wandelt also claimed to Ms McQueen her DNA was a "big match" for DNA from the scene in Portugal, where Madeleine disappeared.
The prosecution is now showing a number of messages on a big screen in court from an account on Facebook called "Julia Julia" - which the jury is told belongs to Julia Wandelt.
One message seen by the court reads: "Please help me to get in touch with Kate McCann. I was threatened by Operation Grange two days ago and I have proof of that.
"I never lied and mainstream media manipulated my story and made me look like a crazy liar."
The jury has now heard Ms Wandelt sent images of crime scenes and "DNA evidence that she is Maddie" in a later batch of messages.
Ms McQueen said she did not reply and the messages were passed on to Leicestershire Police by her mother.
When asked if she made the McCanns aware, Ms McQueen said she did not relay Ms Wandelt's message to them.
"It's a traumatic case and Kate deals with quite a lot of stuff like this, not on this level," she said.
Ms McQueen also said she received messages on Instagram and friend requests from other people about Ms Wandelt, but said she would "block them".
The witness added she had a "lot of messages" from Ms Wandelt in June 2024 and February 2025.
Ms McQueen is continuing her evidence and is asked about some more messages Ms Wandelt sent to her.
"Julia was trying to get me to get in touch with Kate and the family to let them know she wanted to make contact," she said.
"She wanted me to get my mum to speak with Kate and was trying to send me DNA evidence to say she is Maddie, and that she had a feeling or memories that she is Maddie."
She said Ms Wandelt said she had "been threatened by Operation Grange" - the Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.
"She seemed aggravated or upset that no-one believed she was Maddie," Ms McQueen said.
Ms McQueen is asked about Julia Wandelt and how she came to know about her.
"I knew her name had come up quite a few times," she said. "A lot of times on stuff Maddie-related, I don't pay much attention."
But she added it had been mentioned by Kate McCann.
She is asked further questions about the defendant and said Ms Wandelt's connection to the case "was quite relentless".
She said Ms Wandelt contacted her directly but she did not notice until "after the arrest".
"I checked in my spam messages and saw there was a lot of messages dating back quite a while," Ms McQueen added.
Ellie McQueen has now been called to the witness box. She is a family friend of the McCanns and has known them for many years.
She is asked about before the time of Madeleine's disappearance on 3 May 2007.
"She [Madeleine] was a bit younger than me but like a little sister to me, I have a lot of memories of her when we were growing," she said.
She was in Portugal when the disappearance happened.
"I was quite publicly associated with the case," she added.