Julia Wandelt, the Polish woman who gained notoriety for claiming to be Madeleine McCann, has been arrested upon arrival in the UK. The 23-year-old was taken into custody at Bristol Airport on February 19, 2025, shortly after her plane landed from Wroclaw, Poland.
For those who might need a refresher, Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The three-year-old vanished while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, sparking one of the most high-profile missing person cases in modern history. Despite extensive investigations and worldwide media coverage, Madeleine’s fate remains unknown to this day.
Fast forward to February 20, 2025, and we find ourselves witnessing yet another twist in this long-running saga. Wandelt, who first made headlines in 2023 with her Instagram account “@IAmMadeleineMcCann,” was taken into custody at Bristol Airport.
Her representative, Surjit Singh Clair, confirmed the arrest, stating, “I’m trying to find out what’s happened but it appears Julia has been arrested at Bristol Airport this evening just after she got off the plane. The police have reportedly arrested her on an allegation of stalking and harassing the McCanns,” per Daily Mail.
The arrest occurred in front of stunned passengers as Wandelt was surrounded by officers. She had reportedly been planning to meet a friend who lives in Cardiff. Interestingly, this friend, thought to be in her sixties, was also arrested and taken away.
This development comes after Wandelt recently doubled down on her claims of being Madeleine McCann, citing new DNA test results that she says “strongly support” her theory. However, these claims have been met with skepticism, and British authorities have previously dismissed them.
The arrest appears to be related to accusations of stalking and harassing Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents. In a previous incident, an officer working on Operation Grange for London’s Metropolitan Police had warned Wandelt, saying, “We know everything that is going on with you…you are not Madeleine McCan,” per Knews.
Initial DNA tests showed Wandelt was of Polish, Lithuanian, and Romanian heritage, not British like the McCann family.
Despite this setback, Wandelt hasn’t given up on her belief. She recently shared new DNA results on her Instagram account, @AmIJuliaWandelt, claiming they show a connection to Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s father.
“My actual DNA results show that I am part British, part Irish,” Wandelt stated in one of her posts. She claimed these new tests, analysed by what she calls a “world expert,” show a 69.23 per cent match to DNA found at the scene of Madeleine’s disappearance.
Wandelt’s representative, Surjit Singh Clair, shared a statement from their expert: “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 McCann family have not participated in these tests.
Lead image: @iammadeleinemccann via Instgram / Getty Images
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