Secret DNA Examination Verified Accused Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Reports Investigator

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

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said 13 people had earlier asserted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried 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 intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

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

Court Proceedings

The court heard that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

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

He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and traumatized by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

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

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.