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A suspected stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was excluded after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals 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 became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had already judged 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 learning Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on stalking charges, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the relatives were left frightened and upset by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

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

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.