A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann “stalked her parents and siblings” by turning up at their home and leaving voicemails, court documents show.

Julia Wandel, 23, has been remanded into custody at Leicester Magistrates’ Court after being charged with stalking the parents and two siblings of the little girl who vanished in 2007.

Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt, was arrested at Bristol Airport on Wednesday, Leicestershire Police said and later charged with four counts of stalking. The charges state the 23-year-old is accused of stalking Kate, Gerry, Sean and Amelie McCann between January 3 2024 and February 15 2025.

She is also alleged to have attended the family home on May 2 and December 7 last year. Wandel also sent Amelie and Sean McCann Instagram messages between January 3 and December 29 last year, according to the docket.

The charges say the incidents “had a substantial adverse effect” on the family’s day-to-day activities “when you knew or ought to have known that your course of conduct would cause alarm or distress”. All four stalking offences carry a maximum penalty of 12 months in custody and/or an unlimited fine.

A second woman, aged 60 and from Wales, who was also arrested at the airport on suspicion of stalking, has been released on bail, police added.

Wandel hit the headlines when she claimed to be missing Maddie in February 2023. She made several media appearances and underwent a DNA test to prove she was telling the truth which confirmed she was not the missing girl, instead showing she is from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage.

Maddie was three when she vanished during a holiday to Portugal in 2007. She and her twin sisters were left alone in their rental apartment in Praia Da Luz while their parents went out for dinner nearby – and when they returned, she was gone.

Her loved ones have since campaigned to find her and the Metropolitan Police has spent over £13million on her case, dubbed Operation Grange.

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