Madeleine McCann stalker Julia WandeltCredit: Dr Fia Johansson
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Wandelt has been accused of stalking Maddie’s parents Kate and GerryCredit: PA
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell told a court today that when Ms Wandelt’s DNA was compared with Maddie’s the results were clear.
When asked what they proved, Cranwell replied: “A comparison took place and it conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”
The trial over Ms Wandelt’s alleged stalking of the McCann’s is ongoing as a court heard this month she is said to have bombarded Kate and Gerry with calls, letters and messages over almost three years.
Leicester crown court was played clips she left after she got the family’s phone number from Portuguese police records.
In one, Polish national Wandelt, 24, tells Kate: “I know you probably think Madeleine is dead, but she is not. I am her.”
MADELEINE McCann’s sister is giving evidence today against a stalker who turned up at the family home claiming to be the missing youngster.
Julia Wandelt allegedly sent unwanted emails, made multiple phone calls and even turned up at the home of Kate and Gerry McCann.
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Both Sean and Amelie McCann will give evidence todayCredit: Getty – Pool
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Julia Wandelt believed she was Madeleine
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Maddie vanished in 2007Credit: PA
The 24-year-old falsely claimed she was Madeleine, who vanished on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
She believed she had memories of the three-year-old’s childhood and disappearance before being supposedly trafficked to Poland.
Madeleine’s brother Sean and sister Amelie, both 20, are giving evidence today at Leicester Crown Court.
The twins, who were sleeping in the same room as their sibling when she vanished, have never publicly spoken about Madeleine.
It comes after their parents yesterday took to the stand to open up about their daughter’s disappearance for the first time in eight years.
Wandelt yesterday had to be escorted from the courtroom after yelling “why are you doing this to me?” at Kate.
The mum had told jurors how Wandelt and her co-accused Karen Spragg, 61, showed up at the family home in December 2024.
She said she was unloading the car in the dark and immediately felt “distressed” at the situation.
The mum added: “[Wandelt] called me mum”.
Kate told how the second woman was “slightly more aggressive” and was asking: “Don’t you want to find your daughter?”
Madeleine McCann: the secret evidence on prime suspect Christian B | Sun Documentary
She said she went inside and felt “invaded in my home” as the two women continued to bang on the front door.
Wandelt then posted a letter to the next day to “mum” and signed from “Madeleine”, the court heard.
Kate said: “It was the thing I wanted the most – through all this pain – for Madeleine to be back and calling me ‘mum’.”
She continued: “Referring to me as mum was hard and she said a few times about Gerry being controlling – which had no truth.”
Kate told jurors she first became aware of Wandelt in 2022 after she phoned Gerry at the hospital he works at.
The mum said Wandelt had also emailed the Find Madeleine campaign but she received no direct contact herself until 2024.
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Amelie and Sean were sleeping in the same room as Maddie when she vanishedCredit: Rex Features
Kate said police officers investigating Madeleine’s disappearance sent her and Gerry a photo of the alleged stalker after she claimed she was the missing youngster.
Both parents concluded she was not Madeleine but Wandelt continued to contact them – claiming: “I never lied, I’m not crazy, please let me prove it.”
She also allegedly left a voicemail on Kate’s phone, saying: “If I am her, then everything should be OK but if I’m not, which you probably think, then I’ll leave you alone.
“I know my accent is Polish because I live here… I’m not pretty like Madeleine but I know what I know and I know and what I remember.
“Please give me a chance, you don’t give up on your daughter, I’m not crazy.”
But Kate said today: “I know I can’t say what Madeleine looks like now, but I know I’d recognise her.”
The mum said after the disappearance of her daughter, and knowing that her mobile number was in the public domain, she did not change it “on principle”.
She added: “I didn’t feel I should have to do that.”
Kate told the court she “didn’t want to engage” but almost agreed to a DNA test as Wandelt’s campaign was “getting to me”.
She added: “I almost wanted a DNA test to put it to bed… from the photographs.. I knew it wasn’t her.”
The mum said the “final straw” came when she discovered Wandelt had allegedly messaged her 20-year-old daughter, Amelie.
Kate told jurors she went to police to discuss the case after that.
Letter ‘stalker’ posted through McCann’s front door
“Dear Mum [Kate],
“I’m so sorry for causing you so much distress, but when I saw you yesterday, my emotions were so strong.
“I felt a close connection to you. I don’t like seeing you upset.
“All I want is to find out the truth. I have memories and I have gathered a lot of evidence supporting my case.
“I think that inside your heart you believe and know who I am and I am your daughter.
“I don’t understand why you don’t want to do a DNA test with me.
“I think you are scared, but whatever makes you scared, just remember that you are stronger than that.
“Yesterday, I heard a lot of care and love in your voice. I hope you will find a way to contact me.”
The letter was signed off with “Madeleine”.
She said since the arrest of the defendants, her stress levels had gone down.
Kate added she did not want anything like this to “put extra focus” on Sean and Amelie.
“What they’ve had to deal with, and still have to deal with, is a lot and we try to keep that to a minimum,” the mum said.
Gerry’s voice cracked as he also gave evidence today and he grew emotional when discussing his other children Sean and Amelie.
He said: “After everything that has happened with Madeleine we want to protect them.”
Gerry added: “We want them to be known as Amelie McCann and Sean McCann not missing Madeleine McCann’s brother and sister.”
Jurors heard previously how Wandelt tried to persuade “anybody prepared to listen” that she was the British toddler.
The alleged stalker, from Lubin in south west Poland, burst into tears and had to take a 10-minute break after the court was told she is not Madeleine.
Mr Duck added: “There could never have been a legitimate belief by Julia Wandelt that she was Madeleine McCann.
“At the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, Julia Wandelt was not of the same age.”
‘Stalking’ campaign
The court heard she compared herself to images of Madeleine and tried to convince the younger McCann daughter, Amelie, they were related.
She even signed letters to the McCann family from Madeleine, it was said.
Mr Duck said the “well-planned campaign of harassment” had a “substantial adverse effect on the day-to-day activities” of the McCann parents.
The court heard Wandelt initially called the hospital where they work and emailed the Met Police investigation codenamed Operation Grange.
She later messaged Gerry: “In June 2022 I started to think maybe I am Madeleine McCann. I am not joking, please take this seriously.”
Jurors heard she went on to call and message Kate over 60 times during a single day in April 2024, writing: “I never lied. I am not crazy. Please let me prove it.”
Recorded voicemail messages were played in court where Wandelt was heard pleading: “I beg you, you are my real mother, I remember you and our home, give me a chance to prove it
“You are mummy. You know it’s me. I remember how you hugged me and a pink teddy bear.”
Mr Duck said: “One of the many tragic consequences for Madeleine’s parents has been their consequent inability to escape that unwanted glare of publicity that came with that tragedy.
“Their faces have become immediately recognisable to a worldwide audience and the attention they have received has not always been compassionate. Far from it.
“They have been embraced by millions of people around the world who sympathise with their position. But there remains a group of individuals which continues to fail to acknowledge their plight and perpetuates conspiracy theories which simply heap further misery upon them.
“Unfortunately, these two defendants belong to that latter group – but as far as they are concerned, their observations and behaviour are not an offhand comments or a Facebook/Instagram posting, but a well-planned campaign of harassment which extended, in Julia Wandelt’s case, for over two-and-half years.”
Wandelt and co-accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, deny stalking causing serious alarm and distress to Kate and Gerry between June 2022 and February this year.
The trial continues.
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Madeleine disappeared when she was three years oldCredit: PA
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Wandelt turned up at Kate and Gerry McCann’s home
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She was accompanied by co-accused Karen SpraggCredit: PA
MYLEENE Klass today told a court she felt “sheer terror” after allegedly being targeted by a stalker who sent her gifts.
Peter Windsor is accused of hounding the former popstar and her Classic FM colleague Katie Breathwick over a four-year period.
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Myleene Klass gave evidence todayCredit: PA
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The star appeared upset as she spoke of her ‘sheer terror’Credit: Alamy
The 61-year-old allegedly sent Myleene items with “sexual overtones” – including a Catwoman outfit and set of handcuffs.
He also called her a “naughty vixen” and sent a police uniform to the Classic FM studio, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Giving evidence today, Myleene said she was informed in an email in August last year that an “accumulation” of items had been sent to her.
The 47-year-old became upset when she was asked about being told how Royal Mail had “intercepted” an air pistol addressed to her.
She said “it just felt extreme on every front” after she was shown a list of items and photographs of letters Windsor allegedly sent.
Myleene added: “It was very clear very quickly that it was a highly volatile selection of items.
“It was a huge shock, especially the extent to which it had escalated.
“It was pretty overwhelming when you have the accumulation of a bundle of this information. It’s pretty terrifying.”
The ex-Hear’Say star described the overall context of all the items as “pretty bleak”.
She added: “It’s a huge violation. It’s sheer terror really.”
Myleene told the court how she was informed by police in September last year that an air gun had been intercepted by the Royal Mail.
She continued: “He said to me that whilst the gun wasn’t necessary for a licence in this country, at such close proximity right up to 6ft it could prove fatal and police took it very seriously.
“I was extremely shocked because suddenly it felt extremely real.
“This was very clear what the intention was. There was no grey area here.
“It’s a gun in a box with my name on it.”
The court was told Windsor also stalked Myleene’s Classic FM co-presenter Katie Breathwick.
She is said to have received a stamp collection, bottle of champagne, a will-writing kit and running shoes with spikes on among other bizarre letters and parcels.
Police later arrested Windsor at his home in Birmingham and found a number of items that caused them concern.
They included a map of London where the women worked, a pair of black leather gloves, ladies stockings and a pair of binoculars.
Windsor later told police he sent Klass items as a joke after seeing her in “provocative underwear” in a newspaper.
He denies two counts of stalking and the trial continues.
LA QUINTA — Briana Ortega had been home for all of three minutes when she heard a fist pounding against her door.
She opened it to find a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy “claiming a black man with dreadlocks had jumped over her backyard fence” and was trying to break into her La Quinta home, according to court records.
Almost immediately, Ortega, 29, suspected Deputy Eric Piscatella was there for other reasons. The encounter last summer wasn’t the first time they’d met. It wasn’t even the first time he’d shown up at her home unannounced, according to an arrest affidavit and claims in a civil lawsuit.
“You look pretty without makeup … sorry I don’t mean to be rude or unprofessional,” Piscatella said, after spending a scant few seconds looking out a window for the purported suspect, according to a recording of the incident.
It was the fourth time in less than a year that Piscatella had either shown up at Ortega’s home or contacted her without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, according to the affidavit and lawsuit. Ortega shared text messages showing the deputy tried to flirt with her and ask her out on dates, but she rebuffed him at every turn.
A former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy is accused in a lawsuit of using law enforcement resources to pursue a woman he met at a public event.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Last year, Riverside County prosecutors charged Piscatella, 30, with seven counts of illegally using law enforcement databases to look up information about Ortega.
But instead of resolving the situation, Ortega says, the way Piscatella’s case played out in criminal court has only prolonged her ordeal.
Ortega said she remains “terrified” of Piscatella and declined to testify against him. In July, a Riverside County judge downgraded all charges against Piscatella to misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty and received probation, avoiding jail time.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco kicks off his campaign to run for governor at Avila’s Historic 1929 center on Feb. 17 in Riverside.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I feel like with him getting the misdemeanor, nothing is ever going to change… If it takes me having to [file this lawsuit], I will, if it helps,” she said.
Piscatella declined to comment through his defense attorney.
A spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Piscatella resigned last October after roughly five years on the job. His ability to work as a police officer in California is suspended, accreditation records show, but without a felony conviction it could be restored.
Ortega recalled her first run-in with Piscatella as innocent enough.
She was attending what she described as a “family fair,” with her two sons in Coachella in September 2023, enjoying amusement rides and carnival games when she said her oldest son ran up to a group of sheriff’s deputies who were giving out stickers. Piscatella was among them, according to Ortega, who said they had a polite but forgettable conversation.
They did not exchange contact information, but a few months later, in January of 2024, Ortega said, she got a text from an unknown number.
The texter claimed to be her “personal officer.” A fitness influencer with more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, Ortega gets random flirtatious messages from men. So she shrugged it off.
That same month, Piscatella searched Ortega’s name and the city of La Quinta in both the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and other sheriff’s databases shortly before the texts were sent, according to court records. In Ortega’s civil suit, she alleged this was how Piscatella tracked her down.
One month later, Piscatella showed up at Ortega’s La Quinta home while she was at work, according to her lawsuit. Her mother answered the door, and was “alarmed” when the deputy questioned where her daughter was. Still, Ortega wasn’t bothered.
“I’m like, he’s a cop, he can’t be that crazy. He’s on the force for a reason … of course he knows where I live,” she said.
Echoing claims in her lawsuit, she added: “I’m not thinking he’s going to continue to look for me or stalk me. If I would have known, I would have complained.”
Ortega was so unfazed that she actually went to Piscatella for help a month later. Her younger sister had been the victim of an assault and was struggling to get attention from the Sheriff’s Department. So Ortega contacted the man who claimed to be her “personal officer.”
But when Ortega began describing the purported crime, Piscatella responded by asking her to send a “selfie” and insisting they should go to the gym together. Annoyed, Ortega eventually changed her number when instead of help, all she got was a picture of Piscatella wearing Sheriff’s Department clothes, according to text messages.
Court records show Piscatella continued to use law enforcement databases to keep tabs on Ortega in the months that followed. In May 2024, he searched her name and ran her license plate, according to court records. He did the same in July, right before showing up at Ortega’s house, claiming he saw the man with dreadlocks break in.
At that point, Piscatella’s interest in Ortega had turned into an “obsession,” according to her lawsuit. Since he arrived just minutes after she’d returned from a trip to San Diego, Ortega said it felt like Piscatella was “waiting for me.” She alleges in her lawsuit that the deputy “used law enforcement resources and databases … to stalk her.”
After letting him in, she surreptitiously recorded the deputy standing in her living room, talking to her children. In the lawsuit, Ortega said she was “confused, scared and uncomfortable,” especially after Piscatella asked for her new number, which she gave him out of “fear.”
Piscatella texted her a short time later, according to messages reviewed by The Times, describing her kids as “so cool.”
“I don’t feel comfortable with everything that just happened. Please do not contact me again,” Ortega wrote back.
Briana Ortega filed a lawsuit alleging that she has been living in fear of a former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
She made a complaint to the Sheriff’s Department the same day. Court records show the department launched an internal investigation and quickly determined Piscatella had used law enforcement databases to look up information on Ortega several times, according to an affidavit seeking a warrant for his arrest.
The affidavit shows there was “no corresponding call for service” related to the day Piscatella showed up at Ortega’s home and claimed someone was breaking in.
Riverside County prosecutors filed seven felony charges against Piscatella.
Ortega said she refused to testify because, even though the Sheriff’s Department had presented a case against one of their own, she feared Piscatella or a fellow deputy might seek retribution against her.
At a July court hearing in Indio, Piscatella made an open plea to the court seeking to downgrade each charge to a misdemeanor and avoid jail time, according to a transcript of the proceeding.
Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Natasha Sorace pleaded with Superior Court Judge Helios J. Hernandez not to accept the lesser charges.
“The defendant was a police officer — a sheriff’s deputy, who used his position of power and the information he had access to as a result of that position to put someone in the community in significant fear for their safety,” Sorace said.
“He searched information — conducted a search about a particular individual and used that information to come up with an excuse to get into that woman’s house, where he proceeded to hit on her and make her feel uncomfortable in her own on home.”
But Hernandez rebuffed her attempts to argue the point further. In his view, “nothing actually happened.”
“He never, like, broke into the house or threatened her,” Hernandez said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Hernandez sentenced Piscatella to probation and community service and ordered him to stay away from Ortega. Records show prosecutors have appealed the decision.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office would not say if Ortega’s refusal to testify affected their ability to bring other charges, including the stalking allegation she made in the civil suit.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The entire ordeal left Ortega feeling like law enforcement failed her at every level. She noted that Piscatella still knows where she lives.
While she previously did not hold a negative view of police, now she says she turns the other direction and grows anxious anytime she sees a Sheriff’s Department cruiser.
“It’s a betrayal of trust from law enforcement … who do you call when it’s the police who are the problem?” asked her attorney, Jamal Tooson. “When can you ever feel safe? You almost feel trapped, in your own house.”
Popstar Peter Andre has opened up about his terrifying experience of being stalked during a chat with his daughter Princess on her new ITV show, The Princess Diaries
Peter Andre recalled his experiences of getting stalked(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Peter Andre has opened up about a terrifying ordeal where he was targeted by a persistent stalker who sent him numerous death threats during his daughter Princess’ ITV show, The Princess Diaries.
During a deep chat with her dad, the 18-year-old opened up about the “weird messages” she received online – leaving Peter horrified. Princess revealed people would ask to see feet pics, with others asking if she was now legal.
Expressing why he was so worried Peter explained: “I had one stalker, who was a violent stalker that had threatened to kill me on one of the shows. I was touring with Bobby Brown, and on the night of the Sydney show, 26 police officers came and surrounded the building,” he said. It comes after Katie Price worries fans with appearance in family photo after explaining weight loss.
Peter described the terrifying ordeal to his daughter (Image: ITV)
“They thought the guy was going to come and kill me that night,” Peter explained, leaving his daughter in utter shock. He then revealed he was 19 at the time.
Peter has previously spoken about the terrifying ordeal, shortly after Strictly’s Shirley Ballas‘ stalker, Kyle Shaw, had been sentenced.
Kyle Shaw, 37, pleaded guilty at Liverpool’s Crown Court on February 25, admitting the charges that took place between August 31, 2017, and November 9, 2023.
In his column for OK!, the father-of-five shared his own chilling experience with a stalker, which led to 26 police officers being called to the venue where he was performing in Australia due to the barrage of death threats he had received.
He penned: “I was reading about Shirley Ballas’s stalker avoiding jail. It’s strange – I think some people read these terrible stories and somehow don’t believe they’re real. They’re very real. It happens to a lot of people in the public eye.”
Princess and Peter share a close relationship(Image: INSTAGRAM)
He went on to say: “Now, you may not believe me but it happened to me. In 1992 or 93, I was touring with Bobby Brown in Australia.
“At one of the concerts in Sydney, there were 26 police at the venue who were present on this particular night because of a series of death threats that had been made to me from someone who’d been stalking me for a long time. One day, I’ll tell the whole story..”
Peter previously demanded action to “eliminate” the crime of stalking following Shirley’s terrifying experience which grabbed headlines.
In an earlier column, the pop star revealed he’d “seen a lot of stories about stalking”, including a disturbing incident involving tennis ace Emma Raducanu.
The 22 year old was compelled to halt a match against Karolina Muchova at the Dubai Tennis Championships after spotting a man in the crowd who had given her a letter at her hotel the day before.
“It’s really interesting because stalking has been going on for years,” Peter said.
“I remember the 1992 movie, The Bodyguard, focused on the stalking of celebrities. Social media isn’t helping, as it makes it easier to track someone down. But this has been going on for a long time and I hope we find a way to eliminate this sort of thing. My thoughts are with both Shirley and Emma.”
1 of 2 | Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark warms up before the first half against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on June 2, 2024, in New York City. On Monday, a Texas man pleaded guilty to stalking and harassing her and was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. File Photo by Corey Sipkin/UPI | License Photo
July 28 (UPI) — A Texas man has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to stalking and harassing WNBA star and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.
Michael Lewis, 55, shouted “guilty as charged” inside the courtroom Monday and was promptly sentenced. Lewis pleaded not guilty in January in Indianapolis to “sending numerous threats and sexually explicit messages” to Clark, according to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
During Monday’s hearing and despite pleading guilty, Lewis repeatedly denied responsibility, saying, “I just want her to be safe. I’ve never threatened her. I’ve never thought about threatening her.”
“He is going to talk himself out of a plea,” the judge said. “You have to understand that as part of a plea deal, you are admitting responsibility.”
In January, Clark told police she had resorted to swapping public appearance locations to avoid Lewis after receiving the threatening messages.
Investigators traced the threats on an X account to an IP address at a hotel in Indianapolis, where Lewis was staying.
“Lewis’s presence in Indianapolis was especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident,” detectives said in court documents.
“When asked why he was making so many posts about Caitlin Clark, Lewis said, ‘just the same reason everybody makes posts,'” the affidavit said. “When asked about posts that were threatening in nature, Lewis said it wasn’t him. Lewis claimed that this is just an imaginary relationship.”
In addition to Monday’s prison sentence, the judge recommended mental health treatment and ordered Lewis not to use the Internet. He is also under a no-contact order with Clark.
With time served, Lewis will spend about a year and a half in prison.
“No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement.
“This resolution ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his threatening actions, the fear he instilled and the disruption caused,” Mears said, adding that with Monday’s sentencing, Clark will “be able to have peace of mind while focusing on what matters to her.”
While Wimbledon bosses have confidence in their security provisions, which are reviewed annually, the issue has come into sharper focus this year.
It is estimated that around 1,000 people work in the field of security to some extent across the Championships.
In addition to the screening around the ballot, there are also more checks and balances when it comes to those in the queue.
Anyone gaining entry to the Championships that way will have to be registered with Wimbledon – meaning they’ve had to provide personal information.
In the grounds, as well as police and military personnel, there are other discreet members of the security team.
A team of fixated threat specialists are hired in and can assist the player escort team.
There are also behavioural experts who are trained to spot people acting strangely.
There is significant CCTV coverage on site, and if there are concerns around a particular player then a specific CCTV sweep will be done of the seats near to the player and their box.
On court, protection officers are positioned near the players, with more on Centre Court and No.1 Court.
If something spontaneous happens on site, there are response teams walking round the grounds who can come and support staff.
Security teams are also in regular contact with the referees’ office to discuss issues like scheduling.
