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

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone probably 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 contacting the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He said: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been compared to 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 while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

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

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the relatives were left frightened and distressed by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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