She asked police if they thought she had ‘cut her up’

A woman who was investigated over the disappearance of Madeleine McCan has spoken out years later.

Looked into by police seven years ago, she was involved in the theory that the missing youngster had been killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Of course, as us Brits know, there have been a large number of theories over the years of just what happened to the little three-year-old girl who went missing in Portugal back in 2007.

Australian mushroom murderer jailed for minimum of 33 years

But, still to this day, we do not know what happened to Madeleine. The key suspect in her disappearance remains as Christian Brueckner, who is expected to be released from jail in Germany next week at the end of his sentence for raping an elderly woman in Praia da Luz (where Madeleine went missing) in 2005.

McCann went missing in 2007. (Handout/Getty Images)

But before he was declared as the official suspect by Portuguese prosecutors, one of the theories was this ‘hit-and-run’ idea.

Portuguese and British police were looking into the possibility that Madeleine had woken up, gotten out of her family’s holiday apartment through an unlocked patio door, and had been killed in a hit-and-run accident.

And a German woman who had been working in a restaurant near the beach in Praia da Luz was looked into. She wasn’t identified when the theory was recently leaked to Correio da Manha newspaper in Portugal, and has since told Sky News she wasn’t aware she’d been under suspicion.

The woman explained she had gotten home after the time it was discovered Madeleine was missing from her bed.

“I don’t even know if there was a car accident, because I was working,” she explained. “I came home at half ten, and my boyfriend was home already.”

She added that her British boyfriend (who has since died) was a chef at the Ocean Club where the McCanns and their friends had dinner.

One theory was reportedly that she left the apartment and was killed in an accident. (VASCO CELIO/AFP via Getty Images)

Like many of the residents in the area, their home was searched by police in the days after the toddler’s disappearance.

When she was asked to empty her freezer during a second search, the woman said she got angry and asked one of the Portuguese police officers: “Do you think I’ve cut her up in little pieces and I’m going to have her for dinner?”

She also explained that over a decade later, she was contacted by German police to see if she knew Brueckner and if she had seen him near the McCann’s apartment.

“They wanted to know if I ever saw this German bloke around this area where I was living for a long time. Other people obviously saw his van, but I never saw it,” the woman said.

She added that she ‘didn’t even have a car’ at the time of the disappearance and that a German inspector called her several times over more than a year, asking for the SIM card from a phone she used when she was living in Portugal.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We continue to support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of 3 May, 2007 in Praia da Luz. This includes working with our colleagues in Germany and Portugal.

“Our thoughts remain with the family and it would be inappropriate to comment further while enquiries continue.”

Featured Image Credit: McCann Family Handout

Murder detective who investigated killing of Tupac has made a request in hunt to find Madeleine McCann

Former LAPD detective Greg Kading was asked if he’d consider lending his expertise to the UK’s most high profile missing person’s case

The former LAPD detective who worked on the Biggie Smalls (Christopher Wallace) and Tupac Shakur murder cases said he would be willing to take a look into the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Ex police officer Greg Kading has said in countless documentaries and interviews that he knows who killed the pair, given his involvement in both cases – Tupac was killed at 25 in 1996 and Biggie a year later, aged 24

Since then, many have credited Kading and his task force for laying down the foundations for the 2023 arrest of Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis for the murder of Tupac.

For what was once one of the most high-profile cold cases in the US, Kading now says he is open to taking a look at one of the most high-profile missing persons cases in Britain.

McCann, three, vanished from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal back in May 2007.

She was on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, and her younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie.

The parents were at a nearby restaurants when she went missing.

“Hey, I would love to come over there and live there for a year and work on that case,” Kading told the MAD THAT PODCAST.

“I love going to England, I love the UK, I love Ireland, I love it up over there and if I had an opportunity to go over there and work, and live for a while, man, I would take it in a heartbeat.

“So get me on that case.”

Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis has been charged with the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur (PA)

As for who killed Biggie Smalls, he added: “We know Tupac is no longer a cold case because that’s been officially solved and somebody’s being prosecuted for Tupac’s murder.

“The Biggie case will always remain a cold case because it’s an unprosecutable case. The shooter’s dead, Suge (Knight) is already in jail and the third conspirator in that murder has immunity.”

Kading previously explained the complex case to Vice: “Biggie was killed by an associate of Suge Knight.

“He hired a guy named Poochie to track down Biggie at the Petersen Auto Museum in March of 1997. And wait for him outside and he pulled alongside and shot either side of the car killing Biggie.

Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann shares DNA test update after reaching out to Kate and Gerry

Julia Wandelt says she reached out to Kate and Gerry McCann for a DNA test

A woman from Poland who is claiming to be Madeleine McCann has provided an update after allegedly reaching out to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry for a DNA test.

Julia Wandelt, also known by the names Julia Faustyna and Julia Wendell, shocked the world last year when she claimed to be the missing three-year-old in the most reported on missing person’s case ever.The Metropolitan Police has spent £13.2 million investigating the high-profile case as of March 2024.

Now, to prove her claim, Wandelt was awaiting the results of DNA test during an episode of Dr Phil to find out where she was born.

However, Dr Fia Johansson – Wandelt’s representative and psychic medium – told Radar Online in 2023 that ‘she is absolutely 100 percent from Poland’.

“She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian, but the test results show she is Polish,” she said.

Since then, she continues to share her version of events.

Julia Wandelt believes she is Madeleine McCann (YouTube/Break The Ice)

Recalling the time she was ‘kidnapped’, she recently told the Break The Ice podcast: “I remember being taken, I remember being abused before being taken, and I remember that I was put into the car.

“I remember that someone used something like a syringe to put something [in] my body.

“I remember that someone gave me for the window to someone, to a man who had, and I don’t remember the face, I only remember that he had dark hair and that he was slim and tanned skin.”

The Polish woman also alleges that she has reached out to Kate and Gerry McCann to do a DNA test, but they didn’t respond.

Meanwhile, the two people believed to be Wandelt’s parents have ‘refused’ to do a test with her, because they ‘know I’m their child’.

Wandelt claims she has the same scar as McCann (YouTube/Break The Ice)

Earlier today (26 November), Wandelt was responding to questions and sharing her replies on Instagram Stories.

“If the McCanns won’t do DNA is worth trying with the parents who raised you again or relative,” one person said, as the woman replied: “All of them refuse to do DNA test.”

Meanwhile, Dr Johansson insisted last year that Wandelt’s mother is definitely her mother.

“They’re not 100 percent but they believe that Julia’s mum is in fact her mum. They’re questioning her father’s side,” the psychic said.

The health professional was previewed to almost 500 pages of her medical records, which stated that she suffered a skull fracture at just eight years old.

Dr Johansson claimed Wandelt wasn’t able to speak or walk for more than a year.

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@amijuliawandelt/PA

Topics: Madeleine McCann, UK News

Anish Vij

 

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Published 12:18 28 Mar 2025 GMT

New update following arrest of Polish woman claiming she is Madeleine McCann

Julia Wandel was charged with four counts of stalking in February

There have been a series of developments in the suspected stalking case involving the family of Madeleine McCann.

Julia Wandel, 23, appeared in court via video link today (28 March) following her arrest at Bristol Airport more than a month ago. She has been accused of stalking Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, as well as their twins, Sean and Amelie, over the last year.

It comes 22 years after the three-year-old disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007, with the little girl having remained a missing person ever since.

Wandel – who previously claimed she could be the missing youngster and even took a DNA test on Dr Phil – is alleged to have visited the McCann family home on two occasions in 2024.

She is also alleged to have attended the property in Leicestershire on 2 May and 7 December, while she also allegedly sent a letter, calls, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry.

Julia Wandel, 23, was denied bail (Go Get Funding)

The 23-year-old Polish national is also alleged to have contacted the McCann children on Instagram between 3 January and 29 December last year.

In wake of her arrest in February this year, Leicestershire Police announced she had been charged with four counts of stalking.

A spokesperson said at the time: “Two counts relate to offences between 2 May 2024 and 15 February 2025, a third count relates to offences between 3 January 2024 and 21 April 2024, and the fourth count for offences between 27 November 2024 and 29 December 2024. She has been remanded in custody.”

Today, a Crown Court judge refused Wandel’s bail after her lawyer made an unsuccessful 15-minute application on her behalf.

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 22 April.

Wandel, from Lubin in south-west Poland, 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 and Gerry McCann (Joe Giddens – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

A 60-year-old woman who was arrested alongside her at Bristol Airport last month has now also been charged as part of the stalking investigation.

Karen Spragg, of Caerau, Cardiff, has been charged with one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress between 3 May 2024 and 21 February this year, Leicestershire Police said.

She is set to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court today.

Wandel previously issued an apology to the McCann’s in 2023 after a DNA test proved she was not the missing Brit.

Speaking to the BBC in January last year, the Polish woman said she ‘never meant to hurt anyone’ and claimed she had just ‘wanted to know the truth’ about who she was.