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An alleged stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was ruled out after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a campaign of harassment against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, 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, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer 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 did not want setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably 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 contacting the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that throughout their discussion, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and upset by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.