Covert DNA Examination Confirmed Suspected Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Says Detective
An accused stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a confidential DNA test definitively confirmed she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court.
Stalking Allegations Towards McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, aged 24, faces charges for a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.
The Polish national flooded Kate and Gerry McCann and their adult children, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and appeared at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed.
Investigation Details
Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Operation Grange, explained he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her behavior towards the McCann family”.
Detective Chief Inspector 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 wished to avoid setting a precedent.
“If it got out in the media I had taken DNA from a person probably not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.
“I genuinely have 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 earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than Madeleine. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken during detention”.
He said: “Testing was conducted. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”
Jury Hearings
Jurors learned that in April this year, the officer met with Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been compared to 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 truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he answered: “Yes.”
He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have tampered with the sample”, stating: “It was possible she would not believe she cannot be Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”
Family Impact
During previous hearings, the court heard how the McCanns were left terrified and upset by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” 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 ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited.
Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.