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An accused stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted 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 from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He said: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would not believe she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and distressed by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the pair made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

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