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An alleged stalker who insisted to be Madeleine McCann was ruled out after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.

Stalking Allegations Targeting McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is accused of a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 when she was three.

The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.

Police Testimony

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “with the aim she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said 13 people had previously claimed to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person quite 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 plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard for the family.”

Genetic Testing

He said the police had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine because of dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He stated: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

The court heard that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

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

Family Impact

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the McCanns were left scared and traumatized by their “creepy” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

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