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An alleged stalker who claimed to be the abducted child 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, 24, is alleged to have conducted a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national 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 turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, stated 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 13 people had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that throughout their discussion, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, remarking: “It was possible she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.