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An accused stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed 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 reaching out to the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left scared and distressed by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

Both defendants both deny one count of stalking. The case remains active.