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A suspected stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, stated he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt in custody and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the family were left frightened and upset by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how the pair made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.