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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons 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 did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Court Proceedings

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

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

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

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the family were left frightened and distressed by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made progressively odd plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.

The accused women both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.