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An accused stalker who claimed to be the abducted child was excluded after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.

The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Official Statements

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.

DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief 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 probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I genuinely have major concerns about contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

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

Legal Testimony

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the profiles did not match. Jurors were told 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 officer told the jury he answered: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would not believe she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the family were left frightened and traumatized by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.

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