🔗 Share this article

An alleged stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was ruled out after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about reaching out to 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 difficult 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 older by two years than the missing girl. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the relatives were left scared and traumatized by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.