Covert DNA Test Verified Alleged Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, States Detective
A suspected stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was excluded after a confidential DNA test established beyond doubt she was not the missing girl, authorities disclosed in court.
Harassment Campaign Towards McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a pattern of threatening behavior against the family of Madeleine, who went missing from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.
The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.
Police Testimony
Giving evidence on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on the missing person’s case, explained he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said 13 people had earlier asserted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent.
“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from someone most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had numerous individuals coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.
“I sincerely hold 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 the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on stalking charges, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.
He declared: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”
Jury Hearings
The court heard that in April this year, Cranwell visited Wandelt under arrest and stated to her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”
Evidence showed that during their conversation, Wandelt asked: “Do you sincerely wish to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he responded: “Yes.”
He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have interfered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”
Psychological Toll
Earlier in the trial, testimony revealed how the family were left terrified and upset by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to push for a DNA test.
The court learned how the defendants made “increasingly bizarre plans” to collect Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and taking forks from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.
Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. The case remains active.
