🔗 Share this article Secret DNA Test Confirmed Alleged Stalker Is Not Madeleine McCann, Says Detective A suspected stalker who asserted to be the missing girl was excluded after a covert DNA test definitively confirmed she was not Madeleine McCann, investigators stated in court. Targeted Behavior Against McCann Family Julia Wandelt, 24, faces charges for a pattern of threatening behavior against the parents of Madeleine, who disappeared from a holiday destination in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three. The Polish citizen overwhelmed Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters from 2022 until recently, and visited their home demanding a DNA test, the court was earlier informed. Investigation Details Providing testimony on Tuesday, the lead detective on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had acted outside normal guidelines to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her conduct towards the McCann family”. DCI Mark Cramwell said over a dozen persons had in the past insisted to be the abducted child but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I aimed to prevent setting a precedent. “If it was revealed 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 sincerely hold major concerns about approaching the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been highly distressing and difficult for the family.” Genetic Testing He said the police had already judged Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of no physical similarity and that she was two years older than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police were going to take into custody Wandelt on criminal accusations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken when she was apprehended”. He said: “A comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.” Jury Hearings Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective saw Wandelt under arrest and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. Jurors were told he told Wandelt during the visit: “You are not Madeleine McCann.” Testimony indicated that throughout their discussion, Wandelt inquired: “Do you truly desire to find Madeleine?”, and the detective told the jury he replied: “Yes.” He said even with the results, he believed Wandelt “might claim we have interfered with the sample”, remarking: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she isn't Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.” Family Impact Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the family were left frightened and traumatized by their “creepy” and “deeply disturbing” interactions with Wandelt and her alleged accomplice Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as the pair attempted to insist on a DNA test. Jurors heard how the defendants made progressively odd plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included going through the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the McCanns dined at. Wandelt and Spragg both contest one count of stalking. Proceedings are ongoing.