Covert DNA Examination Proved Accused Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Says Investigator

An alleged stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was ruled out after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the relatives of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief 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 sincerely hold major concerns about contacting the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to no physical similarity and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Court Proceedings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

Jurors heard how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.