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An alleged stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was ruled out after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Giving evidence 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”.

The senior officer said 13 people had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced 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 genuinely have major concerns about approaching the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, Cranwell saw Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the relatives were left scared and distressed by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how the pair made progressively odd plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.