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A suspected stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was ruled out after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

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

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual probably 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 approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt under arrest 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 while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the family were left scared and upset by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. The trial continues.