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A suspected stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Harassment Campaign Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The Polish citizen bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

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

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

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He declared: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned 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 during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would not believe she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Family Impact

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the relatives were left terrified and distressed by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

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