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A suspected stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was eliminated after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had many persons 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 raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against 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 during their conversation, Wandelt inquired: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left terrified and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both deny one count of stalking. The case remains active.