DNA Tests Rule Out Wandelt as Madeleine McCann

At Leicester Crown Court, Polish national Julia Wandelt, 24, and Karen Spragg, 61, deny stalking Kate and Gerry McCann and their children after prosecutors say they repeatedly contacted the family, attended their Rothley home and claimed Wandelt was their missing daughter, Madeleine McCann. A Polish missing‑persons charity told the court it initially engaged with Wandelt, who has also compared herself with other missing children including Germany's Inga Gehricke, but was later convinced those identifications were incorrect. Forensic scientist Rosalind Hammond said police hold two DNA profiles for Madeleine — one from a pillowcase recovered from her bedroom on May 14, 2007, and one from a neonatal blood sample — and that a mouth swab taken from Wandelt after her February 2025 arrest does not match either profile. Hammond said the results show Wandelt is not the biological child of Kate and Gerry McCann and that the retained profiles effectively rule her out as Madeleine. The trial continues.