🔗 Share this article

A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz 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 requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person most 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 plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that throughout their discussion, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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