Woman Who Claimed to Be Madeleine McCann Found Guilty of Harassing Missing Girl’s Family

A Polish woman who spent nearly two years insisting she was Madeleine McCann has been found guilty of harassing the missing girl’s family. Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lublin, Poland, was convicted at Leicester Crown Court after a four-week trial. She was cleared of stalking but found guilty of harassment for repeatedly contacting Kate and Gerry McCann, their relatives, and even turning up at their Leicestershire home between June 2022 and February this year.

The court heard Wandelt bombarded the family with emails, voicemails, and letters, despite police warnings to stay away. She also approached members of the McCann family at public events, including a vigil marking the anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Wandelt, who was born three years after Madeleine vanished, first began claiming to be the missing child in 2022. She posted side-by-side childhood photos on social media and later appeared on Dr Phil in the US, telling viewers, “I believe I am Madeleine McCann.” Her online following quickly grew to more than half a million. She said she had “memories” of being with the McCanns as a child — playing ring-a-ring-a-roses and feeding Madeleine’s younger brother Sean. She also claimed under hypnosis to remember being abducted and abused.

Police and prosecutors described her campaign as “plain harassment.” When officers told her she was not Madeleine, she refused to believe them. In one recorded call, an officer told her, “You are not Madeleine McCann, OK… there are offences called harassment here. If you cause any harassment, you could be arrested.” Wandelt replied, “I will never give up.” DNA testing later confirmed she had no biological link to the McCann family.

Wandelt also claimed to be two other missing children — Inga Gehricke, who disappeared in Germany in 2015, and Acacia Bishop, who vanished in the US in 2003. A charity worker who spoke with her said, “There was no similarity between Madeleine and Julia. Different noses, different face. Nothing fitted... She was looking for fame… I don’t think that she believed she was Madeleine McCann.”

The McCanns and their children gave evidence at the trial, describing the distress caused by Wandelt’s behaviour, including one day when she called Kate McCann more than 60 times. Her co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, was acquitted of all charges.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Cutts told the jury that the maximum penalty for harassment was six months in prison and noted that Wandelt had already been in custody since February. “She will have been in custody in fact for longer than the maximum sentence,” the judge said, before thanking the jury for their “care and attention.” A deportation order has been served against Wandelt, leaving the final decision about her future in the UK to the Home Office.

The case has reignited discussion about how viral false claims can interfere with real investigations. Iwona Modliborska, who runs the charity Missing Years Ago, said such hoaxes “make the investigations more difficult,” adding that police are forced to waste time on “something that is not relevant at the expense of other evidence.”

Despite clear DNA results and repeated warnings, Wandelt insisted she would not stop. As she told police in the recorded call, “I will never give up.”