Julia Wandelt gained over one million social media followers by posting “evidence” that she was Madeleine McCann.
The Polish national first posted on Instagram under the username “I am Madeleine McCann” in early 2023, before appearing on podcasts and an American chat show.
Wandelt told her trial, where she was later found guilty of harassing the missing girl’s parents, that she is not an “attention seeker”.
She added that she did not post online for financial gain and only started posting about her claims on social media because the police “ignored” her.
It emerged during her evidence that she had received money, which she said totalled around £400, from her “supporters” which she wanted for a lie detector test and because her boyfriend kicked her out with no savings.
On her Instagram and TikTok accounts, as well as filming herself singing in her kitchen and playing with her cat, Wandelt posted comparisons between her facial features and pictures of Madeleine, comparisons with Madeleine’s sister Amelie McCann, and DNA test results to prove to her followers that she was the missing girl.
She also published audio recordings she took when she went to the McCanns’ home last year to ask for a DNA test.
In her earlier TikTok posts, however, Wandelt’s videos focused more on her playing the guitar, singing, and wishing her cat Monte a happy birthday.
In one video, Wandelt can be seen standing in a kitchen singing a song she wrote called: “I didn’t know”, among videos of many covers of well-known songs.
When she started gaining media attention in March 2023, Wandelt, who also goes by the names Julia Wendell and Julia Faustyna, went to the United States with American psychic Fia Johansson, who allegedly took her phone and passport away from her.
The pair appeared on the US chat show Dr Phil, where Wandelt said: “When I started to think I could be Madeleine, I called to the Polish embassy. I called to English embassy. Nobody listened.
“I decided to create this Instagram and try to use the power of social media.”
The host of the show, whose full name is Phil McGraw, said to Wandelt: “She (Wandelt’s mother) says she went to the hospital and gave birth to you.”
Wandelt said: “My mother, when I asked her for DNA before this whole situation, when I asked her for some pictures from her pregnancy, some childhood pictures, me at three or four age, she refused, didn’t want to.”
Wandelt also appeared in a series of live-streamed interviews with YouTuber Shaun Attwood, and played a secret recording of her phone conversation with Detective Constable Mark Draycott from Operation Grange, the ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, in an episode.
In the call, Mr Draycott told Wandelt not to enter Leicester or call the British police with her claim to be Madeleine or she could be arrested.
Wandelt told her trial she was “threatened” by Mr Draycott in this call.
In an episode of BBC’s Why Do You Hate Me? podcast released in January 2024, Wandelt expressed regret at posting online that she could be Madeleine.
Wandelt said in the interview that if she could go back in time, she would “never go to social media” because “it can destroy you”.
She said: “I remember that since the first day of the social media journey I spent too much time on the internet. I was looking at what people write, what they say, if they believe me…”
Wandelt said she got death threats on social media but kept posting because she “wanted to know the truth”.
Asked in the BBC interview whether she thought about how her social media posts would make the McCanns feel, Wandelt said: “I thought about it but I had to put myself first place because this is my life.
“I fully wanted to know who I am. I knew that it could make them feel sad but they want to find their child so I believe that this is a hope, always a hope, and I felt that I’m doing right.”
Wandelt, 24, was found guilty at Leicester Crown Court of harassing Kate and Gerry McCann on Friday, but cleared of stalking them.
Her co-defendant Karen Spragg was found not guilty of stalking and harassment.
