Covert DNA Examination Confirmed Suspected Stalker Could Not Be Madeleine McCann, Reports Detective

A suspected stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The Polish citizen 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, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone probably not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals 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 given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than the child. 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 said: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt inquired: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

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

The jury were told how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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