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An accused stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

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 visited their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent 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 worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of 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 stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside 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.”

Evidence showed that during their conversation, Wandelt said: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

During previous hearings, the court heard how the relatives were left frightened and distressed by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the pair made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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