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An accused stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was excluded after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and appeared at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known 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 truly possess major concerns about contacting the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the missing girl. 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 stated: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “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 “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left scared and upset by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. The trial continues.