🔗 Share this article

An accused stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was excluded after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence 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 behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted 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 became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt in custody and informed her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that during their conversation, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left frightened and upset by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

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