🔗 Share this article

A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish citizen overwhelmed 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.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, stated he had deviated from protocol 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 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 was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had numerous individuals 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 quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the family were left terrified and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” 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 the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.