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An alleged stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried 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 given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, Cranwell met with Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the family were left terrified and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.

The accused women both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.