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

Targeted Behavior Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed 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 became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

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

Family Impact

During previous hearings, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and upset by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. The trial continues.