🔗 Share this article Confidential DNA Examination Proved Alleged Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, Reports Investigator An accused stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was excluded after a secret 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 campaign of harassment against the parents of Madeleine, who vanished from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three. The Polish citizen overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their grown-up kids, Sean and Amelie, with numerous phone calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and turned up at their home insisting on 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 actions towards the McCann family”. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had earlier asserted to be Madeleine McCann but that: “We would not take DNA only if convinced that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent. “If it got out in the media I had taken DNA off an individual most likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying ‘I’m Madeleine’. “I genuinely have major concerns about reaching out to the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have given them false hope. It could have been very traumatic and hard for the family.” DNA Comparison He said investigators had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was two years older than the child. But, he said, after learning Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on stalking charges, he “determined that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”. He stated: “Analysis occurred. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt cannot be Madeleine McCann.” Court Proceedings Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the officer saw Wandelt under arrest and informed her that her DNA had been matched against Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.” The court heard that while they spoke, Wandelt said: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and Cranwell told the jury he replied: “Yes.” He said notwithstanding the evidence, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There was a possibility she would never accept she cannot be Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.” Emotional Distress During previous hearings, testimony revealed how the family were left frightened and upset by their “disturbing” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the two women attempted to push for a DNA test. The jury were told how both women made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included rummaging in the McCanns’ bins and removing cutlery from restaurants that they had eaten in. Both defendants both refute one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.