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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was excluded after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

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

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would never accept she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the relatives were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Both defendants both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.