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An accused stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was eliminated after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted 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 flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Investigation Details

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on the missing person’s case, said he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people 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 got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, the detective met with 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.”

Evidence showed that during their conversation, Wandelt inquired: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There existed a chance she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Family Impact

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and upset by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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