{"id":2504,"date":"2025-04-22T10:50:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T10:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=2504"},"modified":"2025-04-23T08:55:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T08:55:31","slug":"woman-who-claimed-to-be-madeleine-mccann-denies-stalking-her-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/woman-who-claimed-to-be-madeleine-mccann-denies-stalking-her-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann denies stalking her family"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Julia\t<\/div>
Julia Wandel previously claimed to be the missing British toddler (Picture: Dr Phil)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Polish woman who claimed to be missing British toddler Madeleine McCann has pleaded not guilty to stalking McCann\u2019s parents and siblings.<\/p>\n

Julia Wandel, 23,<\/a> from Lubin in south-west Poland<\/a>, appeared in the dock at Leicester Crown Court accused of making calls, leaving voicemails, and sending a letter and WhatsApp<\/a> messages to Kate and Gerry McCann.<\/p>\n

She is also accused of turning up at their family home on two occasions last year and sending Sean and Amelie McCann Instagram<\/a> messages.<\/p>\n

Wandel previously had her bail application denied in late March.<\/p>\n

Karen Spragg, 60, from Caerau in Cardiff<\/a>, who is alleged to have made calls, sent letters and attended the home address of Mr and Mrs McCann, also denied a charge of stalking the family.<\/p>\n

Wandel was remanded back into custody while Spragg was granted conditional bail.<\/p>\n

Both will appear at the same court for trial on October 2.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Court\t<\/div>
Julia Wandel (right) appeared in court last month (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wandel, 23, from Lubin in south-west Poland, claimed to be the missing girl on Instagram in 2023, but a DNA test said she was Polish.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Ravinder Daroch previously told the court Wandel is alleged to have made \u2018persistent\u2019 contact with the McCanns since 2022, which \u2018increased in frequency and became more alarming\u2019.<\/p>\n

She said the defendant was accused of attempting to make the McCanns aware \u2018she was their missing daughter, Madeleine\u2019.<\/p>\n

Wandel was said to have travelled to the annual vigil held in Rothley, Leicestershire, in 2024, which marks the anniversary of Madeleine\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n

The court heard Madeleine\u2019s parents were not present, but Wandel delivered a letter to their address.<\/p>\n

She is accused of stalking, causing serious alarm or distress against Kate and Gerry McCann between May 2 last year and February 15 this year.<\/p>\n

Wandel is also accused of sending Amelie and Sean McCann Instagram messages between January 3 and December 29 last year.<\/p>\n

The charges state the alleged context \u2018had a substantial adverse effect\u2019 on the family\u2019s day-to-day activities when \u2018you knew or ought to have known that your course of conduct would cause alarm or distress.\u2019<\/p>\n

All four stalking offences carry a maximum penalty of 12 months in custody and\/or an unlimited fine.<\/p>\n

Madeleine McCann\u2019s disappearance at the age of three in Portugal\u2019s Algarve in 2007, during a family holiday, remains unsolved.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julia Wandel previously claimed to be the missing British toddler (Picture: Dr Phil) A Polish woman who claimed to be missing British toddler Madeleine McCann has pleaded not guilty to stalking McCann\u2019s parents and siblings. Julia Wandel, 23, from Lubin in south-west Poland, appeared in the dock at Leicester Crown Court accused of making calls, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2504\/revisions\/2509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}