🔗 Share this article

A suspected stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was excluded after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

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

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted to be the abducted child 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 from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would never accept she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

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

The court learned how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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