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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely 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 approaching the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He declared: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the family were left terrified and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

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

Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.