A suspected stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was excluded after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.
Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.
The Polish national overwhelmed 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 requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.
Police Testimony
Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.
DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.
“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely 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 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 very traumatic and challenging for the family.”
Genetic Testing
He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.
He declared: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”
Legal Testimony
Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been matched against 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 while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”
He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would never accept she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”
Family Impact
During previous hearings, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.
Jurors heard how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.
The accused women both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.
