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A suspected stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the long-lost child, police have revealed in court.

Targeted Behavior Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a campaign of harassment against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

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

“I sincerely hold 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 quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the family were left terrified and upset by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

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