Covert DNA Examination Verified Alleged Stalker Could Not Be Madeleine McCann, States Detective

A suspected stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was excluded after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is accused of a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, 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, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted 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 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 aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He declared: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed 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.”

Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the family were left terrified and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

The jury were told 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 they had eaten in.

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