Alleged McCann family stalker Julia Wandelt ‘still questions who she is’

A woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents has told a court she still questions her identity after claiming to be the missing girl.

Julia Wandelt, 24, who the jury has repeatedly claimed is the missing child, is accused of stalking Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.

Taking the stand at Leicester Crown Court on Monday, the woman said her memories of her childhood were limited and that she “only remembered the abuse after her experiences with her step-grandfather”.

Ms Wandelt, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, denied following Mr and Mrs McCann and that this caused serious alarm and distress.

The hearing had previously heard Ms Wandelt claimed she had been Mr and Mrs McCann’s daughter since 2022.

But the jury was told DNA testing taken from him when he was arrested in February 2025 “conclusively proved” he was not the missing child.

Ms Wandelt told the court she was abused by her step-grandfather in her childhood, when she was around nine years old.

He said he told his grandmother in 2010 and she told him not to tell anyone.

The court heard his step-grandfather was convicted and later sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Ms. Wandelt said the abuse left her suicidal and that she began seeing a psychologist around 2020.

She said: “It made me think more about my life and think about everything that had happened. I realized I only remembered the abuse. “My friends could remember things.

“I started asking questions because I couldn’t believe there was nothing more to the story of what happened to me.”

She added: “I started asking my parents about everything.”

Asked by defense attorney Tom Price KC if she was still questioning her identity, Ms. Wandelt said: “Yes, I do.”

Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007. The case remained unsolved.

Ms Wandelt told the court she learned who Madeleine was in the summer of 2022 while she was in hospital.

He said he talked to his father, who told him that the man who molested him in his childhood was “involved in the kidnapping.”

She told jurors she was considering whether she was adopted at the time and decided to “check databases” of missing persons.

Asked if Ms. Wandelt had found anyone who matched her, she said: “There weren’t really many people my age or around my age, but that’s how I found Madeleine.”

Ms. Wandelt said that in 2023, her family began to think they had no children.

He told the court he asked them to do a DNA test to confirm it was their child but they refused.

Ms Wandelt told the court that a sketch of a suspect in the Madeleine case “looked quite similar to the person who harassed me” and had the same surname, which was a “big factor”.

Ms. Wandelt said Madeleine did not like the cause of fame or financial gain.

“I just wanted to know who I was,” he said.

The defendant said he discovered Operation Grange, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, and contacted them in 2022.

The court heard the woman sent an email saying “I think I might be Madeleine McCann” and told investigators her date of birth was 2001 but “the documents may be fake”.

Ms Wandelt told the court she wanted to contact “everyone I could think of” before contacting the McCann family.

“In general, if someone’s child is missing, I would assume it would be upsetting to uncover a clue that could ultimately result in false hope,” he said.

“I wanted to try everything before contacting Madeleine’s parents directly.

“I didn’t want to give them false hope that they would cause trouble.”

When asked why he eventually contacted the McCann family, the defendant said he thought they had been “misled”.

“The police were not interested in finding Kate and Gerry’s daughter,” he added.

Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, faces the same charge, which she also denies.

The trial continues.