19:49, 14 Oct 2025<\/p>\n
![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_Madeleine-McCann-anniversary.jpg\")
File photo of Madeleine McCann who disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
DNA samples taken by police from the alleged stalker of the McCann family \u201cconclusively\u201d prove that she is not the missing Madeleine McCann<\/a>, a trial has heard. Jurors at Leicester Crown Court<\/a> were told that 24-year-old Julia Wandelt\u2019s DNA was taken after she was arrested at Bristol Airport<\/a> in February this year in an attempt to \u201cstop her behaviour\u201d towards the family.<\/p>\n Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, the senior investigating officer for Operation Grange, the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeleine\u2019s 2007 disappearance from an apartment in Portugal, said that 12 people have claimed to be the missing girl but their DNA samples were not taken because it may \u201cset a precedent\u201d.<\/p>\n Giving evidence on Tuesday, Mr Cranwell said: \u201cWe would not take DNA unless we believed that person was Madeleine because I did not want to set a precedent. If it became known in the media I had taken DNA off an individual quite likely not to be Madeleine, I was concerned I would have had a lot of people coming forward saying \u2018I\u2019m Madeleine\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI genuinely have major concerns about approaching the (McCann) family to say I intend to take DNA from an individual \u2013 that could have raised their hopes. It could have been quite emotionally damaging and difficult for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n Reason for DNA test<\/p>\n He added that his own assessment was that Wandelt, from Lubin in south-west Poland, was not Madeleine because her eye pigment was in a different place, she had different coloured irises and was two years older than the missing girl. But Mr Cranwell said he later made the decision that her DNA would be taken \u201cin hope she may stop her behaviour towards the McCann family\u201d, adding: \u201cIt weighed heavily on my mind because this was against policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Cranwell said: \u201cI was aware Leicestershire Police were likely to be arresting her at some point. I made the decision that the DNA would be taken upon arrest.<\/p>\n \u201cA comparison took place. It conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann. There\u2019s a possibility she will never accept she\u2019s not Madeleine even when provided with scientific proof.\u201d<\/p>\n She ‘peddled the myth’ she was Madeleine Prosecutors allege the Polish national peddled the myth that she was Madeleine while stalking Kate and Gerry McCann, by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at their address between June 2022 and February this year.<\/p>\n Mr Cranwell said he had concerns previously that doing a DNA test would add to the \u201cmedia frenzy\u201d and the \u201cspotlight on the McCann family\u201d.<\/p>\n The court heard that in April this year, Mr Cranwell visited Wandelt in custody and told her that her DNA had been compared to Madeleine\u2019s and that the profiles do not match.<\/p>\n The jury heard he told Wandelt during the visit: \u201cYou are not Madeleine McCann.\u201d The court heard that during their conversation, Wandelt said: \u201cDo you really want to find Madeleine?\u201d, and Mr Cranwell told the jury he replied: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n The court heard that after Wandelt initially claimed to be Madeleine, Operation Grange asked Mr and Mrs McCann to look at a photograph of her.<\/p>\n Mr McCann responded by email to the images and said: \u201cConfident it\u2019s not Madeleine although some similarities\u201d, the jury was told, and Mrs McCann replied: \u201cAgreed.\u201d<\/p>\n Wandelt and her co-defendant 61-year-old Karen Spragg, of Caerau Court Road in Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking.<\/p>\n The trial will continue on Wednesday, October 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She was arrested at Bristol Airport Sophie Robinson, PA and Oliver Astley Content editor 19:49, 14 Oct 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21283,748,188,38884,393,4884,36005,16,15,106915],"class_list":{"0":"post-500187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-airport","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-daybreakers","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-madeleine-mccann","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unsolved-crimes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115375501001371978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Court](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_01K6ZJEN9FJSG4RQESJAX26R9M.jpg\")
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Julia Wandelt (left) and Karen Spragg at Leicester Crown Court, where they are charged in connection with an investigation into the alleged stalking of Madeleine McCann’s family(Image: PA)<\/p>\n