Covert DNA Analysis Confirmed Accused Stalker Could Not Be Madeleine McCann, Says Officer
An accused stalker who claimed to be the missing girl was excluded after a secret DNA test established beyond doubt she was not Madeleine McCann, police have revealed in court.
Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, 24, is alleged to have conducted a campaign of harassment 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 grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.
Police Testimony
Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Operation Grange, said he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.
DCI Mark Cramwell said thirteen individuals had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA without strong belief that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.
“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was worried I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.
“I truly possess major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.”
Genetic Testing
He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was not the same age than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “determined 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
The court heard that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt while detained and informed her that her DNA had been matched against 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.”
The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he responded: “Yes.”
He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would not believe she is not Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”
Psychological Toll
Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the relatives were left frightened and upset by their “unnerving” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.
Jurors heard how the pair made ever more strange plans” to obtain Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.
Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.