🔗 Share this article Confidential DNA Analysis Proved Accused Stalker Was Not Madeleine McCann, States Officer A suspected stalker who insisted to be the missing girl was eliminated after a confidential DNA test proved conclusively she was not the long-lost child, investigators stated in court. Stalking Allegations Against McCann Family Julia Wandelt, aged 24, is alleged to have conducted a stalking campaign against the family of Madeleine, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 when she was three. The woman from Poland bombarded Kate and Gerry McCann and their older offspring, Sean and Amelie, with hundreds of calls, messages, voicemails and letters over a period spanning 2022 to this year, and turned up at their home requesting a DNA test, the court was earlier informed. Official Statements Providing testimony on Tuesday, the senior investigating officer on Madeleine's disappearance, stated he had gone against procedure to test Wandelt “in the hope she may stop her actions towards the McCann family”. The senior officer said thirteen individuals had earlier asserted to be the missing girl but that: “We would not take DNA unless we believed 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 probably 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 contacting the family to say I plan to take DNA from an individual – that could have built up their expectations. It could have been very traumatic and challenging for the family.” DNA Comparison He said investigators had previously assessed Wandelt not to be Madeleine on account of dissimilar appearance and that she was not the same age than the missing girl. But, he said, after discovering Leicester police planned to arrest Wandelt on harassment allegations, he “decided that the DNA would be taken upon arrest”. He said: “Testing was conducted. It absolutely confirmed that Julia Wandelt is definitely not Madeleine McCann.” Jury Hearings Proceedings revealed that in April this year, the detective visited Wandelt in custody and stated to her that her DNA had been tested alongside Madeleine’s and that the samples did not match. The court learned he told Wandelt at that meeting: “You are not Madeleine McCann.” Evidence showed that while they spoke, Wandelt asked: “Do you really want to find Madeleine?”, and the officer told the jury he replied: “Yes.” He said despite the test, he believed Wandelt “could allege we have manipulated the sample”, stating: “There existed a chance she would refuse to acknowledge she is not Madeleine despite being given scientific proof.” Family Impact Earlier in the trial, the court heard how the relatives were left terrified and traumatized by their “creepy” and “extremely troubling” interactions with Wandelt and the other accused Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, as both defendants attempted to demand a DNA test. The jury were told how the defendants made ever more strange plans” to acquire Kate McCann’s DNA, which included searching the McCanns’ bins and stealing utensils from restaurants that the family visited. Wandelt and Spragg both refute one count of stalking. The case remains active.