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An alleged stalker who claimed to be Madeleine McCann was ruled out after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a stalking campaign 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 flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have 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 challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He stated: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made ever more strange plans” to collect 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 deny one count of stalking. The case remains active.