Secret DNA Examination Verified Alleged Stalker Could Not Be Madeleine McCann, Says Detective

An accused stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was eliminated after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.

Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Operation Grange, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious 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 intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said authorities had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

He said: “Analysis occurred. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt in custody 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 while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt asked: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “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 isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Family Impact

In prior court sessions, the court heard how the relatives were left scared and distressed by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.

Jurors heard how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to acquire 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 refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.