🔗 Share this article

A suspected stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed 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 appeared at their home demanding a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope 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 only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known 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 genuinely have major concerns about approaching the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt in custody 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 asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would not believe she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the pair 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 McCanns dined at.

The accused women both deny one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.