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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, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Official Statements

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed 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 reaching out to the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

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

He declared: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would never accept she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the relatives were left scared and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made progressively odd plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The trial continues.