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An accused stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt inquired: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would not believe she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and upset by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants 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.

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.