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A suspected stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had many persons 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 highly distressing and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He said: “A comparison took place. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the family were left terrified and distressed by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.