Why is this woman saying she is Madeleine McCann – after ‘bombshell’ DNA results
Julia Wandelt once had a million Instagram followers. They were obsessed with her selfies, particularly those highlighting a speck in her eye and a freckle on her leg which she claimed were ‘proof’ she is in fact Madeleine McCann.
Posting on the @iammadeleinemccann account, she insisted she had no memory of her childhood and that she bore an uncanny resemblance to the missing Brit, who disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007, while her parents Kate and Gerry went out for dinner.
The claims horrified people across the world, including her own parents, and earned her the nickname ‘Maddie faker’.
Julia, who also goes by the surnames Faustyna and Wendell, underwent a DNA test with the help of celebrity psychic Dr Fia Johansson last year, only for it to conclude she was ‘100% Polish’.
Nevertheless, she still turned up at a memorial service for Madeleine in Leicestershire hoping to ask the McCanns to take a test that she could compare to her own.
The fantasist now claims a separate test comparing her DNA to a sample recovered from the crime scene following Maddie’s disappearance supports the assertion Gerry McCann could be her biological father.
Here, Metro examines who Julia Wandelt is and what she has claimed.
Who is Julia Wandelt?
Julia Wandelt is an aspiring musician and model from the town of Wroclaw, nearly 200 miles from the Polish capital Warsaw.
She is believed to be 23 years old – so older than Madeleine would be – but she claims she is unsure of her age and has never seen her birth certificate.
‘I don’t remember most of my childhood, but my earliest memory is very strong and it’s about holidays in a hot place where there is a beach and white or very light coloured buildings with apartments,’ she has said.
‘I don’t see my family in this memory.’
Her Polish parents have denied the claims.
What are Julia’s claims?
Julia claims she first suspected she is Madeleine in June 2022. She was an internet sensation by the following February.
While waiting for the results of Dr Johansson’s DNA test, Julia appeared on US TV in a Dr Phil interview, where she continued to claim without merit that she was Madeleine.
Questioned about the apparent absence of a rare eye defect clearly visible in photos of the toddler that have been released in the years since she vanished, Julia said hers had ‘faded’.
Instead of producing any proof to back up her claims, she relied on an insistence that her laugh was like the missing girl’s and said she had a similar dimple to Madeleine.
She has now resurfaced on Instagram under the handle @amijuliawandelt.
Her stories are full of reposts purporting to show similarities between her appearance and Madeleine’s.
It also contains posts urging followers to contact Operation Grange, Scotland Yard’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, ‘and ask them to do a DNA test and compare Julia Wandelt’s DNA test to the McCann’s’.
The McCann’s MP Edward Argar’s contact details are also posted there for people to get in touch with him to follow up with the Met on the same request.
What has Julia’s family said about her claims?
In a statement, Julia’s parents have said: ‘For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step niece. We have memories, we have pictures.
‘Julia also has these photos, because she took them from the family home with the birth certificate, as well as numerous hospital discharges.
‘We always tried to understand all situations that happened with Julia.
‘Threats to our address from Julia, her lies and manipulations, activity on the internet… we’ve seen it all and we’ve tried to prevent it, explain it, we’ve asked her to stop.’
They added: ‘We always tried to help her get back on her feet. Julia has been of age for several years. She moved out of the house.
‘She refuses treatment, does not take medication regularly. She also did not take advantage of the possibility of treatment at a very good centre in Poland, which agreed to accept her.’
The distraught parents said they had offered to support their daughter by helping her access therapists and medication, saying: ‘Julia once wanted to be a singer, a model. She always wanted to be popular.
‘What’s happening now is she [has] one million followers. The internet won’t forget, and it’s obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie. We are devastated at this current situation.’
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