A Polish woman who spent nearly three years falsely claiming to be the long-missing British child Madeleine McCann has been found guilty of harᴀssment against the McCann family.

Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin in Poland, was convicted on Friday, 7 November 2025, at Leicester Crown Court. The jury unanimously cleared her of the more serious charge of stalking but determined that her repeated unwanted contact with Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and their other children amounted to harᴀssment.

Between June 2022 and February 2025, Wandelt made numerous attempts to insert herself into the McCann family’s lives. She sent multiple emails and left voicemails, physically turned up at the family’s home in Rothley, Leicestershire, banged on their door, and sent direct social media messages to Madeleine’s younger siblings, Sean and Amelie. She also attended a public vigil held in memory of the missing girl.

Wandelt first began publicly ᴀsserting that she was Madeleine McCann in mid-2022. She gained widespread attention in early 2023 by posting side-by-side comparisons of her childhood pH๏τos with those of Madeleine on social media. The posts quickly went viral, eventually leading to a high-profile appearance on the American television show Dr Phil in March 2023, where she repeated her extraordinary claims in front of a large audience.

During the trial, the prosecution presented clear and conclusive scientific evidence, including DNA analysis, proving beyond any doubt that Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann and has no biological connection to the McCann family. Despite this overwhelming forensic proof, Wandelt told the court she had vivid childhood memories of living with the McCanns — including playing games like ring-a-ring-a-roses and feeding young Sean — as well as traumatic recollections of being abducted and abused.

Shockingly, she also claimed at times to be two other missing girls: Inga Gehricke, who disappeared in Germany in 2015, and Acacia Bishop, abducted in the United States in 2003.

Her behaviour drew concern from others involved in missing persons cases. Iwona Modliborska, who runs the charity “Missing Years Ago,” revealed that Wandelt had contacted her organisation claiming to be one of the missing children. After examining the evidence, Modliborska firmly told Wandelt there was no resemblance and urged her to stop, believing the young woman was primarily seeking fame and public attention rather than genuinely believing her own claims.

In May 2024, Wandelt travelled to the UK specifically to attend the annual vigil in Rothley. While Kate and Gerry McCann were not present, she approached a parish priest and handed an envelope containing what she claimed was proof of her idenтιтy to Madeleine’s great aunt. A detective involved in the original investigation later contacted her, clearly stating she was not Madeleine and warning her about the legal consequences of continued harᴀssment.

Following more than seven hours of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict. The judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, noted that the maximum sentence for harᴀssment is six months in prison. However, since Wandelt had already been in custody since her arrest in February 2025, she had already served more time than the legal maximum.

As of June 2026, this chapter of the long-running Madeleine McCann case has come to a close. While Julia Wandelt’s actions caused additional pain and distress to a family that has already endured nearly two decades of unimaginable suffering, Madeleine McCann herself remains missing since her disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. The case continues to capture global attention, with no definitive resolution yet in sight.