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An alleged stalker who asserted to be Madeleine McCann was eliminated after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, authorities disclosed in court.

Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family

Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a campaign of harassment against the relatives of Madeleine, who went missing from a Portuguese resort in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three.

The Polish national overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with countless communications, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and visited their home insisting on a DNA test, jurors learned during proceedings.

Police Testimony

Testifying on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, explained he had deviated from protocol to test Wandelt “intending she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”.

The senior officer said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I wished to avoid setting a precedent.

“If it was revealed in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was anxious I would have had many persons coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’.

“I truly possess major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual – that could have raised their hopes. It could have been highly distressing and challenging for the family.”

Forensic Analysis

He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine due to a lack of resemblance and that she was older by two years than the child. But, he said, after finding out Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “determined that the DNA would be taken during detention”.

He stated: “Testing was conducted. It definitively established that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.”

Legal Testimony

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

The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.”

He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “would suggest we have interfered with the sample”, adding: “There was a possibility she would never accept she is not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.”

Psychological Toll

During previous hearings, the court heard how the McCanns were left frightened and traumatized by their “disturbing” and “profoundly unsettling” interactions with Wandelt and her co-defendant Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to insist on a DNA test.

Jurors heard 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 family visited.

The accused women both refute one count of stalking. The trial continues.