A suspected stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was ruled out after a covert DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, investigators stated in court.
Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, twenty-four, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.
The Polish citizen overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and appeared at their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.
Police Testimony
Giving evidence on Tuesday, the chief investigator on the missing person’s case, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.
The senior officer said 13 people had previously claimed to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I did not want 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 concerned I would have had a lot of people 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 given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and hard for the family.”
DNA Comparison
He said the police had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older 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 upon arrest”.
He stated: “Testing was conducted. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”
Court Proceedings
Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”
Testimony indicated that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.”
He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “It was possible she would never accept she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”
Emotional Distress
During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the relatives were left terrified and distressed by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to demand a DNA test.
Jurors heard how both women made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the family visited.
Wandelt and Spragg both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.
