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An accused stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish citizen bombarded 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.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted 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 off an individual probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and hard for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He said: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would never accept she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the family were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

Both defendants both contest one count of stalking. The trial continues.