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An alleged stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of 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 between 2022 and earlier 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 Operation Grange, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite 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 contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the family were left frightened and distressed by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made progressively odd plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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