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

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort 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 numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had many persons 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 quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had already judged 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 planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He said: “A comparison took place. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective visited 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 at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “It was possible she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the McCanns were left terrified and traumatized by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

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