Covert DNA Analysis Confirmed Suspected Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Says Investigator
An accused stalker who insisted to be the abducted child was eliminated after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, authorities disclosed in court.
Targeted Behavior Towards McCann Family
Julia Wandelt, 24, is accused of a stalking campaign against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 as a three-year-old.
The woman from Poland overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters between 2022 and earlier this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, Leicester crown court previously heard.
Police Testimony
Providing testimony on Tuesday, the chief investigator on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.
DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.
“If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.
“I genuinely have major concerns about approaching the family to say I aim to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and hard for the family.”
Forensic Analysis
He said authorities had earlier determined Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of a lack of resemblance and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police intended to detain Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “made the decision that the DNA would be taken during detention”.
He declared: “A comparison took place. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.”
Legal Testimony
Jurors learned that in April this year, the detective met with Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the genetic markers did not match. The jury heard he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.”
Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he replied: “Yes.”
He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would never accept she isn't Madeleine notwithstanding scientific proof.”
Family Impact
In prior court sessions, jurors learned how the McCanns were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test.
The court learned how the pair made “increasingly bizarre plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at.
The accused women both contest one count of stalking. The trial continues.