Why this woman thinks she is Madeleine McCann

For years, Julia bombarded Maceleine McCann’s Parents and Siblings with phone calls and messages on WhatsApp and Instagram.

He knocked on the family’s door again and again, posting a letter on their door beginning with “Dear Mum”.

WandElt believed that she could be Kate and Gerry McCann’s Missing daughter Kate and spent more than two years trying to gather evidence to support this idea.

DNA tests have confirmed she is not Madeleine, the three-year-old who disappeared while on a Family Holiday in Priaia Da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

Wandelt is now found guilty of harassing the MCCANN family But not guilty of trampling. His co-accused Karen Spragg – whom the prosecution called a Conspiracy theorist – was cleared.

Wandelt’s actions, the Crown Court hearing heard, were cruel and unforgivable.

Wandering, the Court heard, began “telling anyone who would listen” that he was Madeleine McaniS in June 2022.

He claimed to have been arrested and taken to Poland. He provides a number of supporters on social media, maintains contact with 23 different organizations in the UK, Poland, and Interpol, missing persons and interpol, missing Madesine website.

Sanderelt immediately began investigating ways to contact the McCann family, the trial heard.

He rode the switchboard at University of Leicester NHS hospitals claiming to be Madeleine and asked to be placed at Glenfield Hospital, where Mr McCann worked.

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

The content of the call is passed to Grawas in Operation.

In January 2023, Wandelt makes a deal with a Polish charm that can help with cases lost in history.

First he says that she is a missing German woman, called Ingna Gehricke, then Acacia Bishop – a child from Utah in the US – and finally she is Madeleine.

Now, media attention is beginning to surround Wandelt’s claims on social media. The court heard FIA Johansson, an American woman, contacted WandELT in February 2023 after she made a public plea.

Jurors heard the pair had a Whatsapp phone call before they both flew to Los Angeles.

Wandelt said Miss Johansson organized interviews for her and she ended up appearing on the Dr Phil show, hosted by Phil McGraw – one of the top chat show hosts in the US – in March 2023. She was unpaid from this appearance.

Mr McCann was later contacted after his work email was found in June 2023. An email read: “I can be my son.”

Wandelt then pointed out that Madeleine’s sister Amelie, who is at university, has been stalking her twelve times on Instagram.

He tells Amelie that he has memories of them playing in the McCanns’ garden and that she is his “only hope”.

“Please don’t block me, I’m not lying about anything,” he said in another message.

Contact with Madeleine’s sister ended at the beginning of January 2024, when the targeting of Madeleine’s mother began again.

Mr Duck KC, for the prosecution, said Sanderelt obtained Mrs McCann’s phone number in April 2024 from Portuguese Police Siles published online.

The court heard he contacted Mrs McCann on 60 occasions but never received a response. In one message, Wandelt asked her to take a DNA test.

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

The prosecution said Wandelt had been “reformed on hundreds of occasions”.

Mrs McCann reported the officers to the officers who were working inside to investigate the operation. But he didn’t stop.

In May 2024, Wandelt decided to travel from Poland to the Village of Rotley, in Leicestershire, to attend a vigil of a MCANNN trial. Up to this point, his attempt to contact the family is through phone or social media.

The Court heard the McCanns did not attend for VIGIL, but Sander ‘approached the village priest and belonged to MCCANN to them.

But before returning to Poland, Wandelt visited the Cross Police Station in London and told the officers that she was Madeleine.

A DNA sample was taken as a precaution, but it was destroyed after contacting an officer of the light operation and knowing that it was hopeless that he claimed.

An officer from the investigation instead of being sent to talk to him and contact the follow-up next month, he was told that he was at risk of being arrested. He told the officer he wasn’t going to stop.

The court heard Mr Spragg came to the island after he saw that he would appear on a YouTube broadcast in September 2024.

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

Messages between the pair in November 2024 show WandELT asking about getting DNA from the McCanns. Mrs Spragg responded by saying the pair should “go through their bins”.

It was from this contact that the flow was arranged to meet the person Mrs Spragg in person.

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

They then traveled to Rotley where they waited for Mrs Sprgag’s car with its lights on.

The court heard Mrs McCann was confronted by relying on a demand for a DNA test. He told the pair “they are causing trouble and should leave the property”.

As Mrs McCann tried to enter her home, “trying to close the door” was attempted.

A letter from WandELT, beginning “Dear Mum”, was posted through MCCANNS’ front door the next day.

After a failed attempt to contact Mrs McCann again via WhatsApp, the prosecution said the defendants continued to make plans to return to the UK.

Both women were eventually arrested at Bristol Airport on 19 February 2025.

Wandelt was arrested after taking off from a flight, while Mrs Spragg waited in a nearby car park and was arrested after sending worried messages about her accuser.

Wandelt denied any intention to harm the McCanns.

DNA test results – obtained by DNATELT After she was arrested at Bristol Airport in February – “proved” she was not Madeine.

Jurors were told that police contacted the accused about the DNA test on 1 April. Wandelt said he felt it was “disrespectful” like that April Fool’s day, knowing how long he had been waiting.

Mr Duck KC told the jury wissellt was “capable of being incredibly manipulative”. He said his actions towards the McCanns were “cruel and inexcusable”.

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

Due to his time on remand, he will be released from prison but granted a restraining order against the family at MCACANN. His phones will be destroyed and destroyed as part of his order.

The court was also told that Wandelt is likely to be deported following the conclusion of his trial.

Mrs Spragg got away, although the judge cut the sentence, also imposed a restraining order on herself, banning her from contacting the McNans for five years.