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An alleged stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and appeared at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct 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 unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from someone probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, the court heard how the relatives were left frightened and traumatized by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned 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.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. The trial continues.