In January 2023, Wandelt got in touch with a Polish charity that helps with historical missing persons cases. She first said she was a missing German girl, called Inga Gehricke, then Acacia Bishop - a baby from Utah in the US - and finally that she was Madeleine.

Karen Spragg could be seen beaming in pictures taken outside Leicester Crown Court, but was unable to speak to the press due to a restraining order imposed by a judge

When Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, her brother and sister were only two years old, asleep in the same room.

Two women's alleged stalking of the McCanns was "cruel and unforgiving" and showed no sign of stopping, prosecutors told a trial. Michael Duck KC said evidence showed Polish national Julia Wandelt, who has claimed to be missing Madeleine McCann since 2022, was "capable of being incredibly manipulative".

Karen Spragg, 61, was accused alongside of Julia Wandelt of stalking and harassing Madeleine McCann's parents, but was cleared of the allegations following a two-week trial

Leicester Crown Court has heard four weeks of evidence about the allegedly ‘cruel’ behaviour of Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg.