🔗 Share this article

An accused stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt in custody and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the McCanns were left terrified and distressed by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how the pair made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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