Secret DNA Examination Proved Suspected Stalker Is Not Madeleine McCann, Reports Investigator

A suspected stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was ruled out after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the missing girl, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination 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 between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at 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 actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about contacting the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. 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 on account of no physical similarity and that she was two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He said: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that throughout their discussion, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire 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”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” 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 both women made ever more strange plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.