Secret DNA Examination Confirmed Alleged Stalker Is Not Madeleine McCann, Says Detective

A suspected stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland bombarded 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 turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on stalking charges, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would never accept she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left scared and upset by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.