In a stunning courtroom climax that’s gripped the world like a real-life thriller gone wrong, the Polish woman who falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann – tormenting the missing girl’s devastated parents with relentless harassment – is set to be booted out of Britain forever. Julia Wandelt, the 24-year-old delusion-driven imposter also known as Julia Faustyna, gasped in shock as a jury slammed her guilty of harassment after a brutal five-week trial at Leicester Crown Court. But the real bombshell? The Home Office has fired up deportation proceedings, shipping her back to Poland faster than you can say “DNA mismatch” – all while she whined in court about missing her cats and boyfriend back home.

This isn’t just another tabloid twist; it’s the explosive end to a three-year nightmare that saw Wandelt bombard Kate and Gerry McCann with thousands of messages, voicemails, and even showing up uninvited at their doorstep on a dark December night, begging for a DNA test like a scene from a horror flick. Arrested at Bristol Airport in February, she’s already rotted in prison for nine months – time served that spared her extra jail time after a six-month sentence. But freedom? Not so fast. A deportation notice slapped on her means the Secretary of State gets the final say, and insiders whisper she’s Poland-bound any day now, complete with a lifelong restraining order barring her from ever contacting the McCanns again.

Flash back to 2023, when Wandelt exploded onto screens worldwide via her infamous Instagram account @iammadeleinemccann, amassing over a million followers with “proof” that she was the little girl snatched from a Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007. Freckles? Check. A rare eye coloboma? She claimed it too. Hypnosis sessions supposedly unlocked “memories” of beach holidays, abuse in Poland, and playing with Madeleine’s siblings. She even roped in a private investigator, Dr. Fia Johansson, who hyped her claims on talk shows. But forensic experts torpedoed it all: “Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann,” testified Rosalyn Hammond. DNA profiles? No match. Wandelt? 100% Polish, with Lithuanian and Romanian roots tossed in. Game over – or so everyone thought.

Yet Wandelt didn’t stop. Ignored warnings from police, she escalated like a stalker on steroids. Over 60 calls and messages in one single day to Kate McCann alone. Voicemails pleading, “What if there’s a small chance I’m her? I don’t want money, I have a life in Poland!” She called Kate “mum,” sent sinister letters, and turned up at the family home, confronting the couple in their driveway. “Stroke my head like you did before the abduction,” she allegedly demanded in one deranged recall. The McCanns, shielded behind screens in court, relived the trauma as Wandelt wept during Kate’s testimony. Judge Mrs Justice Johannah Cutts didn’t mince words: “Your constant pestering and badgering was unwarranted and unkind. They are entitled to privacy after suffering the disappearance of their young child for years.”

Wandelt’s backstory? A tragic mess that explains but doesn’t excuse. Abused as a child by a relative who resembled old McCann suspects, she spiraled into mental health chaos – patchy memories, refusal of treatment, lashing out at her own family. Her dad, Jacek, revealed her last words to him before Christmas: “Daddy, I love you, but you’re not my dad – I’m Madeleine McCann.” Her Polish family begged her to stop the “lies and manipulations,” revealing she’d stolen birth certificates and hospital records. They offered top-tier psychiatric help; she bolted. Boyfriend? Kicked her out. Cats? Her only “life” left in Lubin, southwest Poland.

Co-defendant Karen Spragg walked free, acquitted of all charges and grinning in the dock. But for Wandelt, it’s exile. Phones destroyed, future harassment risk flagged as “significant.” The judge accepted her childhood abuse but thundered: “That does not justify your behavior.” As she moaned about not wanting to stay in the UK – “I have cats!” – the irony burned. This is the woman who flew here obsessed with inserting herself into a family’s endless grief.

Kate and Gerry’s statement? Pure class amid the carnage: “We take no pleasure in the result. We only wanted the harassment to stop. The decision to prosecute was the CPS’s, based on police evidence. We hope Ms Wandelt gets the care she needs and her vulnerability isn’t exploited.” No vengeance, just exhaustion after 18 years of hell – from Madeleine’s vanishing in Praia da Luz to prime suspect Christian Brueckner walking free last month on unrelated charges.

The world watched Wandelt’s circus: viral posts, AI-faked photos, impersonating other missing girls. She fueled conspiracy nuts, the ones who still troll the McCanns online. But justice prevailed. Deportation isn’t punishment enough for some – fans rage she deserved more time. Others pity her fractured mind. Polish authorities? Crickets so far on what’s next – therapy? Charges back home?

As Wandelt packs for Poland (minus her crushed phones), the McCanns cling to hope. Searches in Portugal continue; leads flicker. But this chapter? Slammed shut. The fake Maddie who hijacked a tragedy for fame and fixation is out – deported, disgraced, done. Yet in a twist no one wants, her obsession reopened old wounds. Will she resurface online, cats in tow, spinning new delusions? Or fade into obscurity?

One thing’s certain: Madeleine McCann remains missing. The real girl, frozen in time at age three, deserves the spotlight – not this imposter’s sideshow. Julia Wandelt’s wild ride ends in deportation disgrace. For the McCanns, peace at last? Pray it sticks. Because in this saga, truth hurts – but lies destroy.