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An accused stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was eliminated after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, 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.

Official Statements

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He said: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

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

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the family were left scared and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how the pair made progressively odd plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

Both defendants both contest one count of stalking. The trial continues.