At Leicester Crown Court this week, the haunting legacy of one of the world’s most notorious missing child cases resurfaced in a new and deeply unsettling form. Two women stand accused of mounting a relentless campaign of harassment against Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of Madeleine McCann, whose 2007 disappearance in Portugal gripped the globe and remains unsolved nearly two decades later.
Julia Wandelt, 24, of Lubin, Poland, and Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, have both pleaded not guilty to charges of stalking causing serious alarm and distress between June 2022 and February 2025. Prosecutors allege that Wandelt, in particular, orchestrated a "well-planned campaign of harassment"—one that spanned two and a half years and saw her persistently claim she was the missing Madeleine, contacting the McCanns by every means available and even turning up at their home in Leicestershire.
According to BBC News, the prosecution opened its case with a stark assertion: “Can we, at this very early stage, make this position clear. Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.” As those words echoed in the courtroom, Wandelt broke down in tears, retreating to the back of the dock. The jury was told that determining her identity was not their task—the scientific evidence already proved otherwise.
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC detailed how Wandelt’s campaign began in June 2022, when she first claimed she must have been abducted as a child and taken to Poland, where she lived with people she was told were her parents. “There could never have been a legitimate belief by Julia Wandelt that she was Madeleine McCann. At the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, Julia Wandelt was not of the same age,” Duck told the jury, underscoring the implausibility of her claims.
But implausibility didn’t stop Wandelt. The court heard she sought to convince “anyone who would care to listen,” sending emails, making phone calls, and even showing up at the McCanns’ family home. She contacted a Polish charity in January 2023, at first claiming to be missing German girl Inga Gehricke, then Acacia Bishop, a missing baby from Utah, before finally insisting she was Madeleine McCann. Each claim was investigated and dismissed, but Wandelt’s efforts only intensified.
Her belief escalated to the point of contacting the hospital where both Kate and Gerry McCann worked. A 20-minute call to the switchboard resulted in a report to Operation Grange—the British investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, which has cost £13.2 million as of May 2024. Wandelt followed up with direct emails to Gerry McCann in June 2023, writing: “I could be your daughter, it’s possible I’m her.” She alleged a cover-up and cited supposed similarities between herself and Madeleine, including scars in the same places. The McCanns, however, ignored these messages, and scientific proof categorically excluded Wandelt as their daughter.
Undeterred by silence, Wandelt turned her attention to Madeleine’s younger sister, Amelie, via social media. She sent doctored images in an attempt to show they were “somehow related” and claimed to have memories of life before the abduction. In one message, she wrote: “I know you will not answer me, I’m this girl who went viral saying ‘I’m Madeleine McCann’. I was rejected with no proofs and no DNA test was done.” She pleaded, “Please don’t block me, I never lied about anything,” and insisted the media made her look crazy.
By April 2024, Wandelt had obtained Kate McCann’s personal phone number—unchanged since Madeleine’s disappearance, a detail that, according to the prosecution, left Kate vulnerable to unwanted contact. Wandelt left a voicemail for Kate on April 13, 2024, lasting nearly two minutes. In it, she said: “I don’t want any money, I just want to talk to you. Don’t give up on your daughter... call me, please.” Over the course of her campaign, Wandelt sent around 60 messages to Kate’s phone, each ignored. “Let me prove to you I’m not a liar and a crazy person... I beg you to stop blocking my number... I know things only you, Gerry and Madeleine would know,” she wrote in another message.
Prosecutor Duck KC described Wandelt’s actions as far more than an “off-hand comment in a post on social media.” Instead, he told jurors, they amounted to a “well-planned campaign of harassment.” Wandelt sought information from experts, manipulated images, and even attempted to sway public opinion by forwarding images to Madeleine’s siblings, designed to persuade them of a familial connection. “They had been manipulated and features altered,” Duck said.
Spragg, the co-defendant, is alleged to have participated by making calls, sending letters, and attending the McCanns’ home. Both women are accused of causing serious alarm and distress to the family—who, as Duck reminded the court, have never been able to escape the glare of publicity or the persistence of conspiracy theorists. “There remains a group of individuals who continue to fail to acknowledge their plight and perpetuate conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, these two defendants belong to that latter group,” Duck said.
Against this backdrop, the McCanns’ ordeal has been relentless. Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3, 2007, from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, remains one of the most widely reported missing child cases. The family’s hope has been kept alive by Operation Grange and by their own efforts—maintaining the Find Madeleine website, campaigning for new information, and managing a fund that exceeded one million pounds by 2024, thanks to donations and royalties from Kate McCann’s book, Madeleine.
The McCanns, both doctors from Rothley in Leicestershire, have faced not only the unimaginable trauma of losing a child but also the public’s scrutiny and, at times, outright hostility. They have been wrongly named as suspects, sued and been sued, and weathered the storm of online conspiracy theories. In a statement on December 31, 2024, they wrote: “A big ‘thank you’ for the support and positivity we continue to receive. 2024 like the year before it, seems to have passed by so quickly and whilst we still don’t have any major news to report in the search for Madeleine, work continues behind the scenes. We have to believe that one day we will know.”
Meanwhile, the investigation’s focus shifted in 2020 to Christian Brueckner, a 43-year-old German prisoner, who was named a suspect and charged with unrelated offenses in 2022. He was acquitted in October 2024, but German prosecutors insist the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance will continue, though further charges appear unlikely for now.
As the trial of Wandelt and Spragg continues, the McCanns are forced to relive their ordeal yet again—not through new evidence or a hopeful lead, but through the actions of individuals determined to entwine themselves in the family’s tragedy. The case, as prosecutor Duck KC noted, “remains close to the top of the media’s agenda,” a testament to both the enduring mystery and the deep scars left by Madeleine’s disappearance.
For the McCanns and those who still hope for answers, the search for Madeleine persists, even as they confront new challenges from unexpected quarters.
