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An accused stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was ruled out after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The woman from Poland flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and appeared at their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, stated 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 previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

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

DNA Comparison

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 discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He stated: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that throughout their discussion, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the family were left frightened and distressed by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the pair made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.