Covert DNA Analysis Confirmed Accused Stalker Could Not Be Madeleine McCann, Reports Investigator

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

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

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

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, stated he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the relatives were left scared and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how the pair made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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