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An alleged stalker who insisted to be Madeleine McCann was ruled out after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Harassment Campaign Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, stated he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about contacting the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “Analysis occurred. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the family were left frightened and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Wandelt and Spragg both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.