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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was ruled out after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said thirteen individuals 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 did not want setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess 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 very traumatic and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older 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 upon arrest”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

During previous hearings, the court heard how the family were left scared and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Wandelt and Spragg both deny one count of stalking. The trial continues.