DNA test ‘proved’ woman was not missing Madeleine McCann

A DNA test taken from a woman who believes she is Madeleine McCann “conclusively proved” she was not the missing girl, a stalking trial has heard.

Julia Wandelt and Karen Spragg are on trial at Leicester Crown Court charged with stalking Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

On Tuesday, jurors heard DNA was taken from Ms Wandelt on her arrest in February 2025, and the result given to her in Peterborough Prison in April, which she disputed when told.

Ms Wandelt, 24, of Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland, and Mrs Spragg, 61, of Caerau Court Road, Cardiff, deny the charges.

Madeleine’s disappearance at the age of three in Portugal in 2007 is one of the most widely reported missing child cases and remains unsolved.

Ms Wandelt, who the court has heard since 2022 has claimed to be Madeleine, and her co-defendant Mrs Spragg deny stalking the McCanns, causing serious alarm and distress.

In December 2024, Det Ch Insp Mark Cramwell decided Operation Grange – the name of the force’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance – should attempt to get Ms Wandelt’s DNA tested “in the hope she may stop her behaviour towards the McCann family”.

He said: “It weighed heavy on my mind. The threshold remained the same, but it was outside the framework.”

DNA samples were then taken on arrest, the court heard, and Det Ch Insp Cramwell said: “It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

Ms Wandelt being Madeleine had been ruled out of the Operation Grange investigation after Ms Wandelt contacted them and Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, where Mr McCann works, in June 2022.

But after press coverage of Ms Wandelt’s claim “gained traction” later that year, a photo of her was sent to the McCanns, with their family liaison officer Det Sgt Roger Bearn saying via statement they both replied they “were confident” it was not their daughter.

Details of the Met Police’s discussions about Ms Wandelt were detailed to the court, from initial contact to the press coverage, to Mrs McCann being “bombarded” with calls and texts.

In September 2024, Det Sgt Bearn asked the McCanns if they wanted to pursue “some sort of action” but said “words of advice” would not be advisable, as Ms Wandelt had previously recorded a call with an Operation Grange officer and played it on a true crime podcast on YouTube.

No formal action was asked for at that time.

Ms Wandelt claimed to be Madeleine and pursued the McCann family with messages, calls, and visits, including turning up at their home and demanding a DNA test, the court has heard.

In October, Det Sgt Bearn’s statement said that messages from Ms Wandelt had continued as well as two from a “Welsh-sounding woman”.

Prosecutor Michael Duck KC said Mrs Spragg struck up a relationship with Ms Wandelt and supported her claims and conspiracy theories, and alongside the Polish national confronted the McCanns directly in December 2024.

Mrs Spragg recorded a message she left on Mrs McCann’s phone in late 2024 – prior to their visit to the McCanns’ home in Leicestershire – which was played at the trial on Tuesday.

She said that people believed there was a “cover-up” and that the McCanns’ names had been “blackened” and urged the couple to do a DNA test with Ms Wandelt.

In the recording Mrs Spragg can be heard saying: “I really, really want you to take her seriously if you really want to find your daughter.

“This could be a cover-up. Maybe Orange Grange [sic] is in on it.”

A crime report was created by the Met Police after Ms Wandelt and an “older woman” turned up at the McCanns’ home in December 2024.

Ms Wandelt was arrested in February 2025 after returning to the UK flying in to Bristol Airport, with Mrs Spragg detained in a nearby car park.

The trial continues.