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A suspected stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

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

The senior officer 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 from someone quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about contacting the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the family were left scared and upset by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both contest one count of stalking. The trial continues.