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A suspected stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family

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

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent 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 worried I would have had many persons 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 built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He stated: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to 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 throughout their discussion, Wandelt said: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “It was possible she would not believe she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left terrified and traumatized by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the pair made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that they had eaten in.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.