A Polish woman who previously claimed she was Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who disappeared in 2007, has been convicted of harassment in Leicestershire.
The jury found Julia Wandelt, also known by the names Julia Faustyna and Julia Wendell, not guilty of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, according to a report by the BBC.
Madeleine McCann went missing at the age of three while on a family vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. Her parents were dining nearby when she vanished from their hotel room, where she had been sleeping with her siblings, as noted by CrimeOnline.
Authorities suspect that convicted rapist Christian Brueckner abducted and murdered Madeleine, but her remains have never been discovered, and Brueckner has not faced charges related to her disappearance.
Julia Wandelt emerged in 2023, asserting that she was the missing Madeleine McCann. This led to her being charged with stalking earlier in the year.
Wandelt has been sentenced to six months in prison for harassment. The judge also ordered the destruction of her cell phones. Given her time already spent in custody since February, she is expected to be deported promptly following the conclusion of the case.
The judge, Johannah Cutts, acknowledged Wandelt’s difficult childhood but said “that does not justifiy the way you behaved.”
“It has been confirmed in this case you are not Madeleine McCann. There was not proper or logical basis for this,” Cutts told the defendant. “What you should not have done is behave as you did to the McCanns. … Your constant pestering, badgering and eventually attendance at their home address on a dark evening in December was unwarranted. You had been properly warned to desist but did not. You continued to contact the McCanns and their friends and, worse still, their children.”
Cutts granted an indefinite restraining order barring Wandelt from contacting the McCanns, saying she posed a “significant risk” of harm to the family in the future.
The jury acquitted a Welsh woman, Karen Spragg, of stalking but granted a restraining order barring her from contacting the McCanns for five years.
“Mrs Spragg said it herself in interview, she saw Miss Wandelt as the victim and not the McCanns,” Cutts said. “She supported her while indulging in her conspiracy theories.”
Both Spragg and Wandelt are barred from entering Leicestershire, where the McCanns live, in the future.
The McCanns released a statement following the verdict saing they “take no pleasure in the result.”
“Like most people, we did not want to go through a court process and only wanted the harassment to stop,” Kate and Gerry McCann said, according to The Daily Mail. “The decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, based on the evidence gathered by the police. We hope Ms Wandelt will receive the appropriate care and support she needs and any vulnerability will not be exploited by others.
“If anyone has new evidence relating to Madeleine’s disappearance, please pass this on to the police.”
