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

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish citizen flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced 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 most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold 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 hard for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He declared: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside 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.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the relatives were left terrified and upset by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how both women made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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