In a case that has gripped the public and reignited painful memories of one of the world’s most notorious missing person mysteries, Julia Wandelt, a 24-year-old from Poland, stood before Leicester Crown Court on October 27, 2025, still questioning her own identity after repeatedly claiming to be Madeleine McCann. Wandelt, accused of stalking Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, between June 2022 and February 2025, delivered emotional testimony about the origins of her conviction and the trauma that shaped her.
According to BBC reporting, Wandelt has insisted since 2022 that she might be the missing child who vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort in May 2007 at the age of three—a case that remains unsolved and continues to haunt the McCann family and the public imagination alike. Despite a DNA test taken following her arrest in February 2025 that “conclusively proved” she was not Madeleine McCann, Wandelt told the court, “Yes, I do,” when asked if she still questions her identity.
Wandelt’s testimony was marked by visible distress and moments of deep vulnerability. As reported by the Daily Mail, she broke down while describing what she called “genuine memories” of being “taken, abused and held with other girls.” She recounted growing up in a house with large glass doors, a detail she later learned matched the McCanns’ home in Leicestershire. “So if I am not her that is OK but how can I remember something that turned out to be true?” she asked the jury through tears.
Her journey toward believing she might be Madeleine began, she said, after years of psychological turmoil. Wandelt told the court she had limited memories of her early life, recalling only the abuse she suffered at the hands of her step-grandfather around the age of nine. She revealed that after confiding in her grandmother about the abuse in 2010, she was instructed not to tell anyone else. The court heard that her step-grandfather was eventually convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison in 2012. The trauma, Wandelt testified, left her feeling suicidal and led her to begin seeing a psychologist around 2020. “She made me reflect on my life more and think about everything that happened. I realised I only remember abuse. My friends, they could remember things,” she told the court, according to BBC. “I started with asking questions because I just could not believe there was nothing else in the story of what happened to me.”
Her uncertainty deepened when she noticed physical and familial discrepancies. Wandelt noted that both of her parents in Poland have dark hair and brown eyes, while she does not. She also claimed to have no childhood memories before the age of eight or nine and said her parents refused to provide her birth certificate—factors that contributed to her suspicions about her origins. “They were either fake or belonged to a child whose death was not registered,” she speculated in court.
It was during a hospital stay for suicidal thoughts in the summer of 2022 that Wandelt first encountered Madeleine McCann’s case. She said her father told her then that her abuser had “been involved in kidnapping.” This revelation prompted her to search missing persons databases for children around her age, leading her to Madeleine’s case. She told jurors that a police sketch of a suspect in the McCann investigation looked “quite similar to the person who abused me” and even shared the same surname—a detail she described as a “big factor.”
Wandelt’s belief was further reinforced by a similar mark on her eye to Madeleine’s, prompting her to contact Operation Grange, the Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. She sent an email stating, “I think I could be Madeleine McCann,” and told investigators her birth year was 2001, though she claimed “documents can be faked.”
Before reaching out to the McCanns directly, Wandelt said she contacted every institution she could think of, including Interpol and missing persons charities. “I did everything before,” she said, according to the Daily Mail. “I wanted to contact every institution I had in my mind before getting in touch with the parents of Madeleine directly... I didn’t want to give them any false hope or give them any distress.” Despite her efforts, she said she was met with resistance: “I wanted to get DNA test, at that time I didn’t know, it still don’t know now why they didn’t want to do this DNA test…”
Wandelt was adamant that her motives were not financial or driven by a desire for fame. “I just wanted to find out who I am... I know people don’t believe this but it is true. I won’t be able to heal from this trauma until I know what has happened to me,” she said. She expressed sympathy for the McCanns, stating, “I would never harm them, I actually have sympathy for them even after I have been imprisoned for eight months... they are looking for their child I am looking for my parents.”
The case has also drawn attention to the role of outside advisers and media figures. The court heard that Wandelt received advice from a publicist and a journalist, Surjit Singh Clair, who told her “exactly how and when” to post on Instagram and advised her about DNA testing. Messages read in court showed Singh telling Wandelt, “If your DNA doesn’t match to them... then you can’t be her [Madeleine],” to which she replied, “Yeah I know.” Another adviser, Fia Johansson, took Wandelt to America for media appearances but allegedly left her stranded there and took her passport.
Wandelt’s co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, of Cardiff, faces the same stalking charge and also denies any wrongdoing. The court heard that police arrested Spragg at her home at 4 a.m. in March after initially arresting her at Bristol airport with Wandelt in February. PC Tom Szyszlak of Leicestershire police explained that a marker placed on the Police National Computer triggered an alert when Wandelt was at the airport, leading to the arrests. Spragg’s lawyer questioned the necessity of the early morning arrest, suggesting it was excessive.
Despite the intense media scrutiny and the emotional toll, Wandelt remains adamant about her quest for answers. “I have spent three years trying to find out who I am I still don’t know who I am. I was taken and I was abused and held with other girls... I just don’t understand why no one wants to help me,” she told the jury. She also expressed frustration with law enforcement, saying, “It is 18 years since Madeleine disappeared... the police are not interested in finding Kate and Gerry’s daughter, that is my opinion.”
As the trial continues, the public is left to watch a story unfold that is as much about the search for identity and healing as it is about the boundaries of hope, trauma, and the far-reaching impact of one family’s tragedy. The court proceedings are ongoing, and both Wandelt and Spragg maintain their innocence against the stalking charges.
The search for Madeleine McCann, and the pain of those left behind, remains unresolved. For Julia Wandelt, the quest for truth about her own past is far from over.
