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An alleged stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish citizen 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 insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, said he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the relatives were left terrified and traumatized by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.