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

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is alleged to have conducted a campaign of harassment 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 flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, 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.

Police Testimony

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, explained he had gone against procedure 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 the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because 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 harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Jury Hearings

The court heard that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt while detained and told 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.”

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

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Family Impact

During previous hearings, jurors learned how the relatives were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The jury were told how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that they had eaten in.

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