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An accused stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was ruled out after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz 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 between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want 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 worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess 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 challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have manipulated the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would not believe she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the relatives were left scared and upset by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.