Covert DNA Examination Verified Accused Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, States Investigator

A suspected stalker who asserted to be the abducted child was excluded after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Harassment Campaign Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Investigation Details

Testifying on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want setting a precedent.

“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I sincerely hold major concerns about contacting 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.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Court Proceedings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have manipulated the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would not believe she isn't Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.”

Family Impact

Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left scared and distressed by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the pair made progressively odd plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.