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An alleged stalker who insisted to be Madeleine McCann was excluded after a covert DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted 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 got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about contacting the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and difficult for the family.”

DNA Comparison

He said authorities had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance 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 harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”.

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

Jury Hearings

Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers 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 inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

In prior court sessions, testimony revealed how the McCanns were left frightened and distressed by their “unnerving” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made progressively odd plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the family visited.

Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.