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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about reaching out to 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 difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He declared: “Analysis occurred. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell saw Wandelt in custody 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 while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the relatives were left frightened and distressed by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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