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An alleged stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was ruled out after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, stated he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people 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 built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

During previous hearings, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and distressed by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. The case remains active.