Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann found guilty of harassing missing girl’s parents

Madeleine McCann.

A Polish woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been found guilty of harassing the missing girl’s parents by turning up at their home and sending sinister letters and messages repeatedly begging for a DNA test.

Julia Wandelt, 24, put her hands to her face when jurors returned a guilty verdict for the harassment of Kate and Gerry McCann on Friday, but a not guilty verdict for a charge of stalking.

A five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court heard Wandelt claimed to have memories, induced by hypnosis sessions, of being abducted and of living with the McCanns as a child, including feeding Madeleine’s younger brother Sean and playing ring-a-ring-a-roses.

Jurors heard that Wandelt, who had an emotional outburst while Mrs McCann gave evidence against her, tried to persuade “anybody prepared to listen” that she was Madeleine, and that she had been kidnapped from Portugal and abused with other girls in Poland.

Julia Wandelt was found guilty of harassment at Leicester Crown Court on Friday. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA

Wandelt called and messaged Mrs McCann more than 60 times in one day on April 13 last year, claiming to have a memory of the mother stroking her head and saying she would find her before the abduction.

Her co-defendant, Karen Spragg, was found not guilty of stalking and harassment.