The Polish woman accused of stalking Madeleine McCann’s parents and purporting to be the missing girl has spoken in court.
Julia Wandelt, 24, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court in England for an incident in December 2024 in which she walked up at the McCann residence and demanded a DNA test, as previously reported. She was eventually charged with stalking.
During cross-examination, Wandelt became agitated and stated, “Actually, I don’t care any more. “I’m just exhausted,” the BBC reported.
Wandelt had claimed to be Madeleine for years and finally contacted Madeleine’s younger sister, Amelie McCann, via social media in January 2024 after unsuccessful attempts to reach her parents. Amelie previously testified that she believed she could handle the stalking on her own, according to the BBC.
Amelie also told the court that Wandelt attempted to persuade her that she was her sister, even going so far as to relate recollections of her time with her sister before her abduction. She also stated that her mother was the most affected by Wandelt’s conduct, claiming that “it took a toll on her well-being,” according to the BBC.
By December 2024, Wandelt had come to Madeleine’s parents’ home and asked that the missing girl’s father agree to a DNA test. The next day, Wandelt returned to the house and left a letter on the door addressed to Kate McCann and signed as her missing daughter, according to BBC.
However, a DNA test revealed that she was not the missing girl, who was born two years after her.
Madeleine, who was three years old at the time, disappeared from her bed at her family’s vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. The McCanns were visiting from the United Kingdom, where they reside. She had been left with her 2-year-old twin siblings in the open apartment as Kate and Gerry McCann went out to eat with friends 130 feet away.
The parents were first suspected in Madeleine’s disappearance, but were eventually cleared by authorities. No charges have ever been filed in connection with the girl’s disappearance, and it is uncertain whether she is still alive.
