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An alleged stalker who claimed to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a secret DNA test proved conclusively she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.

Harassment Campaign Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the relatives of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home requesting a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.

Official Statements

Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope 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 unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was anxious 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 intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and hard 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 two years older than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”.

He stated: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Jury Hearings

Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt while detained and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt while speaking with her: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”

Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he responded: “Yes.”

He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There was a possibility she would never accept she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”

Emotional Distress

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the family were left terrified and distressed by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.

The court learned how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.

The accused women both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.