Confidential DNA Examination Verified Suspected Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Reports Detective

A suspected stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was ruled out after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

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

DCI 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 was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals 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 given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, Cranwell saw Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would refuse to acknowledge she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left scared and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the pair made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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