Alleged McCann stalker claimed to be other missing girls, trial hears

A woman accused of stalking the family of Madeleine McCann previously told a charity she was two other missing girls, a trial has heard.

Julia Wandelt, 24, is on trial alongside Karen Spragg, 61, at Leicester Crown Court charged with stalking Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

On Tuesday, jurors heard Miss Wandelt had to be convinced by a Polish missing persons charity in 2023 that she was not a German girl, who disappeared in 2015, or an American girl who went missing in 2003.

The court has been told Miss Wandelt then claimed she was Madeleine – who disappeared in 2007 in Portugal – before she “pursued that myth” and stalked Mr and Mrs McCann. She and Mrs Spragg deny the charges.

The court heard Miss Wandelt had initially claimed to be Inga Gehricke – who went missing from a family barbecue in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany – on 2 May 2015.

Iwona Modliborska, a charity worker who helped run the organisation’s Facebook page, said she was sent messages and images from Miss Wandelt.

“She said that her biological parents didn’t want to give her access to her birth certificate, and she claimed that when she asked questions about her early childhood, she didn’t get any answers from them,” Ms Modliborska said.

“I very quickly convinced her she was wrong and within weeks she had returned with a new story.”

Miss Wandelt, the court heard, again contacted the charity, this time claiming to be Acacia Bishop, who was kidnapped from her great-grandmother’s house in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the US.

Ms Modliborska told jurors she received images comparing Miss Wandelt – a Polish national – to the missing girl, however, the charity worker said she thought the images had been altered.

Appearing via video-link and speaking through an interpreter, Ms Modliborska told the court Miss Wandelt “1,000% could not be” Acacia, and the defendant “very quickly gave up” on her claim.

She added: “That was the end of the conversation.”

Ms Modliborska said she did not hear from Miss Wandelt for a while before being contacted again, this time with claims the defendant was Madeleine – whose disappearance has never been solved.

The witness said: “I knew she was not similar to Madeleine.

“I tried to convince her again but she was well-prepared and it was not easy.

“I knew from the very start that it was rubbish.

“I tried to make her aware that she was wrong. She did not accept that.”

Jurors also heard Miss Wandelt used the AI chatbot ChatGPT to try and compare her DNA sample with a number of others allegedly found in the apartment where Madeleine went missing.

On Monday, a DNA expert told the court the profile used in the comparison is not from Mr McCann.

Miss Wandelt, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, and her co-defendant Mrs Spragg, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, deny stalking the McCanns, causing serious alarm and distress.

The court has previously heard Mrs Spragg struck up a relationship with Miss Wandelt and supported her claims and conspiracy theories, and alongside Miss Wandelt confronted the McCanns directly in December 2024.

Miss Wandelt, the court heard, was eventually arrested in February 2025 after flying to Bristol Airport, with Mrs Spragg detained in a nearby car park.

The trial continues.