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An accused stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential 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 alleged to have conducted a campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had earlier asserted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent 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 worried 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 intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell saw Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the relatives were left frightened and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made progressively odd plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.