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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish citizen bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the missing girl 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 off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned 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 plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance 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 stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He stated: “A comparison took place. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would not believe she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the McCanns were left scared and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

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

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