Why this woman thought she was Madeleine McCann and what she did next

For years, Julia Wandelt bombarded Madeleine McCann’s parents and siblings with phone calls and messages on WhatsApp and Instagram.

He even showed up at the family’s door and placed a letter on the door that began with “Dear Mom.”

Wandelt believed she could be the missing daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann and spent more than two years trying to gather evidence to support this idea.

DNA tests have shown that she is not Madeleine, the three-year-old girl who disappeared during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

Wandelt has been found guilty of harassing the McCann family, but not guilty of stalking. His co-defendant Karen Spragg, whom prosecutors called a conspiracy theorist, was acquitted.

Wandelt’s actions, the trial at Leicester Crown Court heard, were cruel and unforgiving.

Wandelt, the court heard, began “telling anyone who would listen” that she was Madeleine McCann in June 2022.

She claimed that she had been kidnapped and transported to Poland. She built up a number of followers on social media and then contacted 23 different organizations in the UK, Poland and Portugal, including the police and Interpol, missing persons charities and the Find Madeleine website.

Wandelt then began researching ways to contact the McCann family, the trial was told.

She called the Leicester University Hospitals NHS Trust switchboard claiming to be Madeleine and asked to be put through to Glenfield Hospital, where Mr and Mrs McCann worked.

In a call that lasted several minutes, she ended up speaking to the trust’s communications manager and telling him that she thought she was Madeleine.

The content of the call was transmitted to Operation Grange.

In January 2023, Wandelt contacted a Polish charity that helps with historical missing persons cases.

First she said she was a missing German girl named Inga Gehricke, then Acacia Bishop – a baby from Utah in the United States – and finally that she was Madeleine.

At this point, media attention began to focus around Wandelt’s claims on social media. The court heard that Fia Johansson, an American woman, contacted Wandelt in February 2023 after she went public with her claims.

Jurors heard the couple had a WhatsApp phone call before they both flew to Los Angeles.

Wandelt said Miss Johansson arranged interviews for her and ended up appearing on the Dr. Phil show, hosted by Phil McGraw, one of the biggest chat show hosts in the US, in March 2023. She did not receive any payment for this appearance.

Wandelt later contacted McCann after finding her work email in June 2023. One email said: “It could be your daughter, it may be her.”

Wandelt then turned his attention to Madeleine’s sister, Amelie, who was in college, messaging her dozens of times on Instagram.

He told Amelie that he had memories of them playing in the McCanns’ garden and that she was their “only hope.”

“Please don’t block me, I never lied about anything,” he said in another message.

Contact with Madeleine’s sister ended in early January 2024, when Wandelt attacked Madeleine’s mother again.

Duck KC, prosecuting, said Wandelt obtained Ms McCann’s phone number in April 2024 from Portuguese police files published online.

The court heard she contacted Ms McCann on 60 occasions but received no response. In one message, Wandelt asked him to take a DNA test.

In a voicemail, Wandelt said: “I don’t want money, I just want to talk to you…don’t give up on your daughter…call me please.”

The prosecution claimed that Wandelt had been “rejected hundreds of times.”

Ms McCann reported Wandelt to officers working on the Operation Grange investigation. But she didn’t stop.

In May 2024, Wandelt decided to travel from Poland to the village of Rothley, Leicestershire, to attend a vigil in an attempt to meet the McCann family. Until that point, his attempts to contact the family had been by phone or social media.

The court heard that the McCanns were not present at the vigil, but Wandelt approached the village priest and Mrs McCann’s aunt and handed them a letter.

But before returning to Poland, Wandelt visited Charing Cross police station in London and told officers she was Madeleine.

A DNA sample was taken as a precaution but was destroyed after an officer contacted Operation Grange and discovered there was no chance Wandelt was who he claimed to be.

Instead, an investigative officer was sent to speak with her and contacted Wandelt the following month, telling her she was at risk of arrest. She told the officer she would not give up.

The court heard Ms Spragg approached Wandelt after seeing her appear on a YouTube broadcast in September 2024.

The prosecution said Ms Spragg was an “outspoken supporter of the conspiracy theory” that Madeleine’s parents were responsible for her disappearance despite “unequivocal evidence to the contrary”.

Messages between the couple in November 2024 show Wandelt inquiring about obtaining DNA from the McCanns. Mrs Spragg responds by saying that the couple should “check their bins”.

From this contact, Wandelt managed to meet personally with Mrs. Spragg.

Wandelt flew to East Midlands Airport and the couple traveled to Birstall, where they checked into a hotel.

They then traveled to Rothley, where they waited in Mrs Spragg’s car with the lights off.

At trial, Wandelt interposed Ms. McCann demanding a DNA test. She told the couple they were “causing distress and should leave the property”.

When Mrs McCann tried to enter her home, Wandelt “tried to stop her from closing the door”.

The next day a letter from Wandelt, beginning “Dear Mom,” was posted on the McCanns’ front door.

Following a failed attempt to contact Ms McCann again via WhatsApp, the prosecution said the defendants continued to make plans for Wandelt to return to the UK.

The two women were eventually detained at Bristol Airport on February 19, 2025.

Wandelt was detained after getting off a flight, while Ms Spragg was waiting in a nearby car park and was arrested after sending anxious messages asking about the whereabouts of her co-accused.

Wandelt denied any intention to harm the McCanns.

The results of the DNA test, carried out by Wandelt after she was arrested at Bristol airport in February, “conclusively proved” that she is not Madeleine.

Jurors were told police contacted the defendant about the DNA evidence on April 1. Wandelt said he felt this was “disrespectful” since it was April Fool’s Day, knowing how long he had been waiting.

Duck KC told the jury that Wandelt was “capable of being incredibly manipulative.” He said his actions towards the McCanns had been “cruel and unforgiving”.

Wandelt, 24, of Lubin, Poland, who has been in custody since February, was sentenced to six months in prison.

Due to his time in pretrial detention, he will be released from prison but received a restraining order against the McCann family. Their phones will be confiscated and destroyed as part of their restraining order.

The court was also told that Wandelt is likely to be deported once her trial is concluded.

Mrs Spragg was acquitted, although Judge Mrs Cutts also granted her a restraining order banning her from contacting the McCanns for five years.