A Polish woman who repeatedly claims to be Madeleine McCann was arrested upon her arrival at a UK airport on Wednesday, according to reports. Julia Wandelt—also known as Julia Wendell or Julia Faustyna—was taken into custody in handcuffs shortly after landing in Britain, according to Leicestershire Police.
Authorities at Bristol Airport arrested the 23-year-old on suspicion of stalking and harassing Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann. Wandelt reportedly had flown in from Wrocław, Poland, and was planning to meet a friend in the UK. The friend, whose identity has not been revealed but is in her 60s, was also arrested along with her.
Arrested for Stalking
"Last night, two women were arrested at Bristol Airport as part of an ongoing investigation," a spokesperson for Leicestershire Police told The New York Post. "A 23-year-old woman from Poland and a 60-year-old woman from Wales were arrested on suspicion of stalking involving serious alarm/distress. They both remain in custody and enquiries are continuing."
The arrest comes just days after Wandelt claimed that new DNA test results "strongly support" her belief that she has a genetic connection to Gerry McCann.
The 23-year-old gained international attention in 2023 after launching the Instagram account "@IamMadeleineMcCann," where she questioned whether she was the toddler who disappeared during a family vacation in Portugal in 2007.
However, her claims lost credibility in April 2023 when a DNA test confirmed that she was not the missing daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann. However, this time she has made yet another bombshell claim.
The 2023 DNA test revealed that Wandelt's ancestry was Polish, Lithuanian, and Romanian, effectively disproving any possibility that she was Madeleine. Following the results, she apologized to Kate and Gerry McCann for the ordeal.
However, earlier this month, Wandelt reappeared on Instagram with a new account, @amijuliawandelt, where she shared updated DNA results that she claimed had been analyzed by a "world expert" in the field.
According to Wandelt, the unnamed expert said that her DNA matched certain key traits of the missing child, including eye structure, dental features, and voice characteristics.
In a series of posts on Instagram, where she referred to Kate and Gerry McCann as "my parents," Wandelt claimed that her "real DNA results" indicate she has both British and Irish ancestry. She further claimed that genetic findings "strongly support" Gerry McCann could be her biological father.
However, the McCanns have reportedly "refused" to take part in any testing.
McCanns Still Do Not Agree
Wandelt had earlier made extensive efforts to prove she was the missing child, including submitting samples for three separate forensic tests to analyze her DNA and taking a 23andMe-style genetic test to trace her ancestry.
On social media, she tried to support her claims by highlighting physical resemblances between herself and Madeleine.
Wandelt's representative, Surjit Singh Clair, told the Daily Mail that she is resolute in her intention to have both the McCanns and her Polish parents undergo DNA testing.
However, Clair said that neither party is willing to participate. "Despite indicators she is related to Gerry McCann, neither he nor Kate will take a DNA test," Clair told the outlet.
During a 2007 vacation, Madeleine's parents left their three children sleeping in their apartment while they dined at a nearby restaurant, returning frequently to check on them.
However, when Kate went to check on the children at 10 p.m., she was shocked to find the door and window to their bedroom wide open, with the young girl missing.
