Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann arrested

A Polish woman who has claimed she is Madeleine McCann has been arrested after touching down at a UK airport.

A Polish woman who claims to be Madeleine McCann was arrested on Wednesday night, UK time, after touching down in Britain.

Police detained Julia Wandelt, 23, at around 8pm at Bristol Airport on suspicion of stalking and harassing the missing girl’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

After flying from Wroclaw, a city in western Poland, she was due to meet a friend in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, but police swooped in and surrounded her as stunned passengers watched on.

Her friend, who is thought to be around 60, was also arrested.

Ms Wandelt’s representative, Surjit Singh Clair, confirmed her arrest today and told The Daily Mail, “I’m trying to find out what’s happened but it appears Julia has been arrested at Bristol Airport this evening just after she got off the plane.

“The police have reportedly arrested her on an allegation of stalking and harassing the McCanns.”

Wandelt has been in the headlines since 2023 when she began posting to social media under the handle @iammadeleinemccan.

In countless posts, she claimed to be the missing daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann. Madeleine was abducted from her bed while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, when she was just three years old.

A DNA test in April 2023 revealed that Ms Wandelt had Polish, Lithuanian, and Romanian heritage, meaning she could not be Madeleine.

In a BBC interview last year, she expressed her regret over the situation and apologised to the McCanns for any unintentional pain she caused.

However, just over a week ago, she doubled down on her claim that she was Madeleine, saying a recent set of DNA tests “strongly support” the idea that Gerry McCann could be her father.

She opened a new Instagram account, @amijuliawandelt, with the bio: “I know the truth and I will never give up”.

She shared the results from new genetic testing and claimed they had been reviewed by an unidentified “world expert” who compared them to the samples taken from the crime scene after Madeleine’s disappearance and said they were a “perfect match”.

She also claimed to be a match for the toddler’s eyes, teeth and voice.

Julia Wandelt claims she’s Madeleine McCann and has just been arrested. Picture: Dr Fia Johansson

McCann disappeared from her family’s hotel room in Portugal in May 2007. Picture: Metropolitan Police/AFP

In a series of posts, she referred to the McCanns as “my parents” and claimed her “actual DNA results show that I am part British, part Irish”.

She also said the DNA “evidence” strongly supports that “Gerry McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father”.

The McCanns have “refused” to take part in the tests.

The expert “source” reportedly analysed “hair obtained from the floor of the crime scene in Portugal” and “saliva obtained from the bed quilt at the scene”, and discovered it was a 69.23 per cent match which “suggests a biological connection between the two individuals”.

“The genetic evidence strongly supports that (Gerry) McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father, as the data aligns perfectly with a parent-child relationship,” they claimed.

“If this analysis is accurate and properly derived from their DNA samples, the relationship between McCann and Julia Wandelt is biologically consistent with that of a father and daughter.”

Ms Wendelt posted these results to her new Instagram account last week. Picture: Instagram/amijuliawandelt

Her representative said she remains determined for the McCanns to take a DNA test, despite them repeatedly declining.

“Despite indicators she is related to Gerry McCann, neither he nor Kate will take a DNA test,” Mr Clair said.

“Police have denied organising a DNA test after hearing Julia was Polish on the BBC, but even if she was just ‘a random Polish person’ how can they possibly explain her DNA being linked to the crime scene?

“They have spent £20 million ($39.7m) on this investigation and now won’t spend £60 ($119) on a DNA test, even though she offered to pay for it.”

Kate and Gerry McCann have refused to take a DNA test. Picture: Joe Giddens/POOL/AFP

In January of last year, Ms Wandelt shared with the BBC that she had been sexually abused as a young child.

She began to believe she was Madeleine McCann after noticing similarities between sketches of suspects in the case and her own abuser.

Ms Wandelt claimed that the alleged abuse had resulted in large gaps in her memory.

“I don’t remember most of my childhood but my earliest memory is very strong and it’s about holidays in hot place where there was a beach and white or very light-coloured buildings with apartments,” she said.

Ms Wendelt previously said she regretted her claims. Picture: YouTube/DrPhil

She also stated that her family had never shown her a birth certificate or any photos of her as a baby.

However, her family refuted this claim in 2023.

“For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step-niece,” they said in a statement.

“We have memories, we have pictures. We always tried to understand all the situations that happened with Julia.

“Threats to our address from Julia, her lies and manipulations, activity on the internet … we’ve seen it all and we’ve tried to prevent it, explain it, we’ve asked her to stop.”

Originally published as Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann arrested