Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann charged with stalking

She was arrested after landing in the UK

Julia Wandelt, also known as Julia Wendell, was arrested at Bristol Airport, Leicestershire Police said.

The 23-year-old has been charged with four counts of stalking and is due to appear at Leicestershire Magistrates' Court on Friday.

A 60-year-old woman, who was also arrested on suspicion of stalking, has been released on bail.

Two of Wandelt's charges relate to incidents between 2 May 2024 and 15 February 2025. Another count relates to offences between 3 January and 21 April last year, while the fourth relates to offences between 27 November and 29 January last year.

Wandelt first rose to fame on the internet back in February 2023 after she claimed that she was the missing daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann.

Posting under the name ‘@IAmMadeleineMcCann’, the 23-year-old shared her claims online and even appeared on American TV show Dr Phil.

However, she later issued an apology and said she ‘regretted’ making the claims.

Earlier this week, she claimed that a “world expert” has compared her DNA to that which was found on the crime scene where Madeleine disappeared.

They said they have analysed ‘hair obtained from the floor of the crime scene in Portugal’ and ‘saliva obtained from the bed quilt at the scene’ and found a 69.23% match.

This allegedly ‘suggests a biological connection between the two individuals’.

Taking to social media to share the results, Wandelt claimed the new tests from the so-called expert confirmed she was “part British and part Irish”.

“The genetic evidence strongly supports that (Gerry) McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father, as the data aligns perfectly with a parent-child relationship,” the unnamed expert said.

“If this analysis is accurate and properly derived from their DNA samples, the relationship between McCann and Julia Wandelt is biologically consistent with that of a father and daughter.”

A spokesperson for Wandelt, Surjit Singh Clair, told the Daily Mail that they are committed to getting both the McCanns and Wandelt’s parents to take DNA tests.

“Despite indicators she is related to Gerry McCann, neither he nor Kate will take a DNA test,” Clair said.

“Police have denied organising a DNA test after hearing Julia was Polish on the BBC, but even if she was just ‘a random Polish person’ how can they possibly explain her DNA being linked to the crime scene?

“They have spent £20 million ($39.7m) on this investigation and now won’t spend £60 ($119) on a DNA test, even thought she offered to pay for it.”

Wandelt previously told the BBC that she had been sexually abused as a child, and began to believe she was Madeleine after finding similarities between the appearance of sketches of suspects in the case and her own abuser.

She also claimed that she had never seen photos of herself as a baby or her birth certificate, and that her abuse left gaps in her memory.

“For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step-niece,” Wandelt’s family said in a statement at the time.

“We have memories, we have pictures. We always tried to understand all the situations that happened with Julia.

“Threats to our address from Julia, her lies and manipulations, activity on the internet … we’ve seen it all and we’ve tried to prevent it, explain it, we’ve asked her to stop.”