Woman charged with stalking Madeleine McCann’s family

A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has appeared in court charged with four counts of stalking the missing girl’s family.

Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt, was arrested at Bristol Airport on Wednesday on suspicion of stalking involving serious alarm and distress.

Ms Wandel, originally from Poland, was remanded into custody after appearing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Friday and is due to enter a plea at the city’s crown court on 7 April.

Court documents state the 23-year-old is alleged to have sent messages, left voicemails and turned up at the family home between 3 January 2024 and 15 February 2025.

The documents say Ms Wandel is alleged to have gone to the McCanns’ home twice – on 2 May and 7 December – as well as sending WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, and Instagram messages to her siblings.

They add the conduct “had a substantial adverse effect” on the family’s day-to-day activities “when you knew or ought to have known that your course of conduct would cause alarm or distress”.

Madeleine McCann’s disappearance at the age of three in Portugal in 2007 is one of the most widely reported missing child cases in history and remains unsolved.

Ms Wendal claimed to be missing Madeleine McCann in an Instagram post in 2023, saying she has “gaps in her memory” of childhood after suffering abuse.

However the claim was contradicted in a DNA test in 2023, which revealed she was from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage.

A 60-year-old woman from Wales, who was also arrested alongside Ms Wandel on suspicion of stalking, has been released on bail, Leicestershire Police said.