A woman who once claimed to be Madeleine McCann is now in custody after she was accused of harassing the missing girl's family allegedly contacting them incessantly and appearing in her house in the United Kingdom.
Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt or Julia Wendell, was Arrested Wednesday At a Bristol airport, the Guardian reports.
According to the exit, she has been Loaded with harassment Four members of the McCann family, parents Gerry and Kate, and twin brothers Sean and Amelie, during the duration of 2024 and in 2025. It is also supposed to have made unwanted and not requested visits to their home twice, in May and December of the last. year.
Archive: In this photo of the file of May 2, 2012, Kate and Gerry McCann pose for the media with a missing poster that represents a computer -generated image of the progression of the age of his daughter Madeleine at nine years of the nine years of Age, to mark his birthday and the fifth anniversary of his disappearance during a family vacation in southern Portugal in May 2007, during a press conference in London.
Sang Tan / The Associated Press
The charges indicate the alleged contact, which came in the form of telephone calls, voicemail, a letter and messages of WhatsApp and Instagram, “had a substantial adverse effect” on the family.
In 2023, Wandel began publishing numerous pieces of “evidence” on social networks, claiming that he thought it could be the missing McCann, which disappeared without leaving a trace in 2007 when I was only three years old while I was on family vacation in Portugal.
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The quid of his “proof” with respect to the physical similarity revolved around the rare ocular disorder of McCann, a Wandel claimed to share. When McCann disappeared, an abnormality of coloboma was used in his right eye as an important identification characteristic. (A coloboma is a hole in the structure of the eye, often causing a visible break or hole).
He also claimed to have the same Hicollo as McCann, several moles and freckles located in a similar way, and similar holes in the teeth.
However, two months later, his spokesman said that a DNA test confirmed that Wandel was not the missing girl. In fact, the test showed that Wandel has a Polish inheritance about 100 percent, without evidence of British or even German ancestry.
The Polish Police played Wandel's claims that she was McCann approximately one week after reaching viral fame and Wandel's own parents talked about her campaign, saying that they were “devastated” for their statements and worldwide attention from the media that attracted.
On the left is Julia Wandel, the Polish woman who once claimed to be a missing girl, Madeleine McCann, to the right.
@iammadeleinemccan/family of Madeleine McCann
“It is obvious that Julia is not Maddie,” they wrote in a statement about the Facebook page “Falming years ago”Adding that his daughter has received therapy from psychologists and psychiatrists in the past, but suggesting that he may have stopped recently.
“She denies the treatment, does not take medications regularly … we are devastated by the current situation.”
According to The Guardian, Wandel appeared in court on Friday To face their positions. She did not present any plea. It will appear for a complete guilt audience on April 7 and will remain in custody.
The outlet reports that a second woman was also arrested with Wandel under suspicion of harassment. The 60 -year -old Welsh woman was released on bail.
On May 3, 2007, McCann disappeared from a hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while he was on vacation with his parents. His parents were having dinner with friends in a nearby tapas bar, leaving McCann and his two sleeping brothers in his room at night that disappeared.
His disappearance launched an investigation through the country and resulted in a frenzy from international media.
For more than a decade, Portuguese, English and German police forces have collaborated in an attempt to locate McCann and his kidnapper.
In June 2020, the German police said that McCann is supposed to be dead, but the British authorities continue to deal with their disappearance as a case of missing person.
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