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An accused stalker who claimed to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Legal Testimony

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

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, the court heard how the family were left frightened and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching 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.