A Polish woman who waged a relentless campaign of harassment against Kate and Gerry McCann after becoming obsessed with the idea she was their missing daughter, Madeleine, has been found guilty at Leicester Crown Court.
Julia Wandelt, 24, gasped audibly as the jury delivered its verdict, acquitting her of stalking but convicting her of harassing the McCanns. The court heard how her fixation led her to watch a Netflix documentary about the missing toddler more than a hundred times.
The Harassment Campaign and Trial
During a five-week trial, the court was told that Wandelt tormented the McCanns for nearly three years. Her actions included sending numerous messages, leaving voicemails, and repeatedly demanding a DNA test. This campaign culminated in her confronting the couple at their family home in December.
Wandelt was sentenced to six months in prison. Having already spent nine months in custody awaiting trial, the process to deport her is now understood to be in motion, with the final decision resting with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
A restraining order was imposed on Wandelt, preventing her from contacting the McCanns or publishing any information about them. A co-defendant, 61-year-old Karen Spragg, who was accused of indulging Wandelt's 'conspiracy theories', was acquitted of both stalking and harassment but was given the same restraining order.
Fuel for an Obsession
A former confidant, Dr Fia Johansson, revealed the depth of Wandelt's obsession. Johansson, a self-styled 'psychic detective' who initially amplified Wandelt's claims to her millions of social media followers, alleged that Wandelt watched a documentary about the McCann family over a hundred times during a three-week stay at her guesthouse in early 2023.
'She was just watching crime documentaries and watched the McCann one 100 times,' Johansson claimed to The Sun. She also alleged that her housekeeper found Wandelt's medical documents and a collection of childhood photos, stored on an iPhone Johansson had purchased, stuffed under a mattress.
Wandelt's own family stated that her 'feverish obsession' was fuelled by online conspiracy theorists. Her father, Jacek, a 60-year-old radiologist, revealed that she had changed after being abused by a relative and that she ultimately told him, 'Daddy, I love you, but you are not my dad. I am Madeleine McCann.'
The Impact and the Aftermath
Kate and Gerry McCann both gave evidence from behind a screen during the trial. In a statement, they said: 'Despite the jury's guilty verdict of harassment, we take no pleasure in the result. Like most people, we did not want to go through a court process and only wanted the harassment to stop.'
They added that the decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service and expressed hope that Wandelt would 'receive the appropriate care and support she needs'.
Sentencing Wandelt, Mrs Justice Cutts acknowledged her difficult childhood but stated that it did not justify her behaviour. She described Wandelt's actions as 'unwarranted, unkind, and as the jury have now found, criminal'. The judge emphatically told Wandelt, 'You are not' the victim.
The court heard that a DNA test, using a sample from a pillowcase at the McCanns' home, had conclusively proved that Wandelt was not Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
