A woman who once claimed to be Madeleine McCann was detained after being accused of stalking the missing girl’s family, allegedly suspected of constantly contacting them and showing up at her home in the UK.
Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt or Julia Wendell, was arrested Wednesday at an airport in Bristol, according to The Guardian.
According to the media, between 2024 and 2025, she was charged with allegedly following four members of the McCann family – parents Gerry and Kate and twin siblings Sean and Amily. Arrived at their home twice last May and December.
Files – In archive photos from May 2, 2012, Kate and Gerry McCann pose for the media, missing posters, depicting computer-generated images of age-progressive computers, their daughter Ma Madeleine, nine years old, celebrated her birthday and fifth anniversary. She disappeared during a family vacation in southern Portugal during a press conference in London in May 2007.
Singing tanning/AP
The alleged contact information appears in the form of phone calls, voicemails, a letter and WhatsApp and Instagram messages, which have a significant adverse impact on the family.
In 2023, Wandel began posting a lot of “evidence” to social media, claiming that she believed she might be the missing McCann, who disappeared in 2007 when she was on a family vacation in Portugal in 2007. .
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The crux of her “evidence” about physical similarities revolves around McCann’s rare eye disease, one of whom claimed she shared it. When McCann disappeared, the mountain bone abnormality in the right eye was used as the primary identification function. (Mountain bone is a hole in the structure of the eye that usually causes visible tear or holes.)
She also claims to have the same dimples as McCann, moles and freckles in several positions, similar gaps in the teeth.
However, two months later, her spokesman said DNA tests confirmed that Wandel was not a missing girl. In fact, the test shows that Wander has nearly 100% of the Polish heritage, without evidence of British or even German descent.
Polish police disputed Wandel's claim that she was McCann about a week after McCann, and Wandel's own parents spoke about her campaign, saying they Feeling “destroyed” by her claims and the attention of the global media.
On the left is Julia Wandel, who once claimed the missing girl Madeleine McCann, on the right.
@iammadeleinemccan/Madeleine McCann Family
“It's obvious that Julia is not Maddie,” they wrote in a statement on the Facebook page “Middle Years ago”.
“She refuses treatment and takes medication from time to time…we are frustrated by the current situation.”
According to The Guardian, Wander faces charges from her on Friday. She made no request. She will appear in court on April 7 to plead full guilty and will be detained.
Media reports said the second woman was also on par with Wandel for suspected stalking. The 60-year-old Welsh woman was released on bail.
On May 3, 2007, McCann disappeared in a hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal while on vacation with his parents. Her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby snack bar, and McCann and her two siblings fell asleep in their bedroom the night they disappeared.
Her disappearance triggered an off-road investigation and led to an international media madness.
For more than a decade, the Portuguese, British and German police forces have been working together to try to find McCann and her kidnappers.
In June 2020, German police said McCann was believed to be dead, but British authorities continued to regard her disappearance as a case of missing persons.
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
