There has to be something seriously wrong with you if you harass a grieving family by pretending to be their missing daughter. But such is the case of 24-year-old Polish woman Julia Wandelt, who has spent the last three years torturing the family of missing child Madeleine McCann by claiming to be their missing daughter.
Madeleine McCann is one of the most famous unsolved missing person cases of the 21st century. The 3-year-old disappeared from her bed at a holiday apartment in Portugal on May 3, 2007, resulting in what went on to be described as “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history“. But, despite all the investigations, authorities are as clueless about what happened today as when she was first reported missing.
Eighteen years on, parents Kate and Gerry McCann haven’t given up hope, but are all too aware that the chances of them finding their daughter alive are vanishingly slim. So, when Wandelt began inundating the McCanns with calls, leaving them messages, and even appearing on their front doorstep claiming to be their long-lost daughter, it must have been torture.
I describe Wandelt as a “sick” woman, and I mean that literally as she’s clearly unwell. She claims she has repressed memories uncovered by hypnosis of her growing up with the McCanns, saying she remembers “her mother” stroking her hair, addresses Kate McCann as “mum”, and insists Gerry McCann was involved in “her” disappearance.
The DNA test
When Wandelt appeared at the McCanns’ home, she demanded a DNA test she said would “prove” that she was who she said she was. The test was conducted and, surprise surprise, Wandelt failed it. She was asked in court whether this meant she accepted she wasn’t Madeleine, only for her to respond she was now only “50/50” and needed to see the paperwork, explaining:
“I do believe I’m her. I do remember them but I’m exhausted, I’m completely exhausted with all of this.”
Wandelt has been on trial for harassment and stalking for the last four weeks in Leicester Crown Court, with the jury today returning a verdict of guilty for harassment and not guilty for stalking. She was sentenced to six months in prison, though was released immediately as she’d served that on remand and was issued a deportation order.
Again, I have some sympathy for Wandelt, who is obviously a deeply delusional person that needs treatment rather than prison. But I can’t imagine how painful this is for the McCanns to have what has to be their ideal outcome become reality, but as a false, twisted, and terrifying nightmare.
