🔗 Share this article

An accused stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted 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 off an individual 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 aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

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 were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, remarking: “It was possible she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the relatives were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.