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An alleged stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was excluded after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared 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 countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone 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 contacting the family to say I aim 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 previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the family were left frightened and upset by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the pair made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.