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An accused stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer 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 did not want setting a precedent.

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

“I sincerely hold major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging 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 older by two years than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

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

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the relatives were left terrified and upset by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made progressively odd 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 refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.