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An alleged stalker who insisted to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted 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 was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from someone probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about contacting the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the relatives were left scared and upset by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” 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 ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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