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An accused stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned 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 aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He declared: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and informed her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt inquired: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and distressed by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard 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.

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