Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt, is accused of stalking Kate, Gerry, Sean and Amelie McCann between January 3, 2024 and February 15 this year
A 23-year-old Polish national accused of stalking the family of Madeleine McCann has been refused bail by a Crown Court judge. Julia Wandel made an unsuccessful 15-minute bail, through a lawyer acting on her behalf, in an application at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.
Judge Timothy Spencer KC ruled that no details from the bail application can be reported, ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing listed to take place at the same court on April 22. Wandel, from Lubin in south-west Poland and also known as Julia Wandelt, did not attend the hearing in person, but is understood to have followed the proceedings via a prison video-link.
Wandel is accused of stalking Kate, Gerry, Sean and Amelie McCann between January 3 2024 and February 15, 2025. She is alleged to have attended the family home in Leicestershire on May 2 and December 7 last year.
She is also accused of sending a letter, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, and sending Amelie and Sean McCann Instagram messages between January 3 and December 29 last year.
Meanwhile, a 60-year-old woman is due to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged as part of an investigation into the alleged stalking of the McCann family. Karen Spragg, of Caerau, Cardiff, has been charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress between May 3 2024 and February 21 this year, Leicestershire Police said.
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance at the age of three from Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve when her family was on holiday in May 2007 remains unsolved. The three-year-old tot went missing during a family holiday while her mum and dad were out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
The couple returned to the holiday let to find that their little girl had vanished. To this day, they don’t know what happened to her. They have since campaigned to find Madeleine, who would now be 20, and the Metropolitan Police has spent more than £13million to date on her investigation, dubbed Operation Grange.
The McCann family continue to grieve the loss of their young girl and mum Kate still makes sure to mark her birthdays and Christmas. In 2017, on the tenth anniversary of her abduction, Kate shared how she still buys presents for her missing daughter.
“She shared: “I do all the present buying. I think about what age she is and buy something that, whenever we find her, will still be appropriate so there’s a lot of thought goes into it.” The heartbroken mother also described Madeleine’s birthday as a “difficult time” because that’s when she really feels her absence.
In her book, Kate detailed how the family hold sweet birthday tea parties and fill her room with gifts, as they continue to hold out hope for her return. She wrote: “Monday, May 12, 2008, was Madeleine’s fifth birthday.
“As we’ve continued to do since, we had a tea party at home, with balloons cake, cards, and presents. The presents go into Madeleine’s room to await her return.
“Her pink bedroom remains exactly as it was when she left it but it’s a lot busier now. There are gifts people have sent – from teddy bears to rosary beads – and photographs and pictures Sean and Amelie have drawn for her pinned on the walls.”
She added: “She also has a keepsake box in which the twins leave little things for her: the last sweet in their packet, a new drawing, sometimes just a leaf that has taken their fancy. Everyone sits in there from time to time to feel close to her. The children sometimes borrow toys to play with for a while but they always return them for Madeleine.”