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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was eliminated after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about contacting the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out 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 stated: “A comparison took place. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the relatives were left frightened and upset by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

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