Polish woman who claimed to be missing Madeleine McCann arrested in the UK for allegedly stalking and harassing Gerry and Kate McCann

A Polish woman whose claims she was missing British child Madeleine McCann went viral has reportedly been arrested in the UK.

Julia Wandelt, 23, was taken into custody at Bristol Airport on Wednesday night local time, according to UK news outlet LBC.

She is allegedly being held for stalking and harassing Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate, according to her representative Surjit Singh Clair.

“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,” Clair told LBC.

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

Wandelt, who has also used the last name Faustyna, caused a media frenzy in 2023 when she claimed she was Madeleine, who went missing as a three-year-old while on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Wandelt said she had little to no memories from her childhood, causing her to question her identify.

She has also said she has post-traumatic amnesia after being sexually abused by a paedophile as a child.

After appearing on US TV show Dr Phil, DNA test results eventually confirmed Wandelt was not Madeleine and she was definitely Polish.

But more recently the Instagram account @amijuliawandelt has posted what it claims to be further DNA results that show Wandelt is in fact part British and part Irish.

The account also claims voice comparison tests show there are similarities between Wandelt and Madeleine.

“Based on the analysis of pitch, loudness and spectral centroid, the two voices likely belong to the same person,” the post said.

Another post claims a genealogist analysed hair and saliva from the crime scene in Portugal and found Gerry McCann could be Wandelt’s father.

The post would not identify who the genealogist was, claiming they needed to remain anonymous “because of the sensitive nature of their work”.

Gerry and Kate McCann have publicly responded to Wandelt’s claims, in 2023 saying there was nothing new to report in the continued search for their child.

“If and when there is, it will come from the Metropolitan Police,” their spokesperson said.