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An alleged stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not the missing girl, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from someone quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess 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 very traumatic and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He declared: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, remarking: “It was possible she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “unnerving” 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 ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.

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