Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann pleads not guilty to stalking missing girl’s family

Julia Wandel previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann, appearing on The Dr Phil Show - (Dr Phil/Youtube)

A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has pleaded not guilty to stalking the missing girl’s parents and siblings.

Julia Wandel, from the Polish city of Lubin, appeared in Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old is accused of making calls, leaving voicemails, and sending a letter and WhatsApp messages to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

She is also accused of turning up at their family home on two occasions in 2024 and sending Instagram messages to Sean and Amelie McCann, Madeleine’s siblings.

Cardiff woman Karen Spragg, 60, is accused of making calls, sending letters, and attending the home address of Mr and Mrs McCann.

She also denied a charge of stalking the family.

Karen Spragg, left, is accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s family (Jacob King/PA Wire)

Ms Wandel was remanded back into custody while Ms Spragg was granted conditional bail.

Both women will appear at the same court for trial on October 2.

Madeleine was just three years old when she disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007 while her parents were dining with friends nearby.

Her disappearance has sparked long-running global intrigue, and German prisoner Christian Bruckner was declared a prime suspect by Portuguese police in April 2022.

However, prosecutors said in March 2025 that they had no plans to charge Bruckner over Madeleine’s disappearance.

Madeleine was three when she vanished while on holiday with her parents in Portugal (PA Media)

In 2023, Ms Wandel claimed on Instagram to be the missing girl.

Appearing on the BBC Radio 4 podcast series Why Do You Hate Me? in early 2024, Ms Wandel explained she had first became suspicious of her identity when she was 20 years old and her family could not fill in gaps she had in her memories about her childhood.

She turned to the internet to scour missing person cases and came across Madeleine’s case.

She became convinced she was the missing girl, driven by similarities between herself and sketches of what Madeleine might look like now, and also by the fact that they both had a rare eye abnormality, which causes a mark on the iris.

She apologised to Madeleine’s parents in January 2024 in a social media post after a DNA test in April 2023 proved she wasn’t Madeleine.