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An alleged stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said thirteen individuals had in the past insisted 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 was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from someone quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about contacting the family to say I intend 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 the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he answered: “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 cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the relatives were left scared and traumatized by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.