Woman who believed she was Madeleine McCann 'needs to be protected'

05 April 2023 , 10:12

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Woman who believed she was Madeleine McCann 'needs to be protected'

The young woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann "needs to be protected" after DNA results confirmed she is not the missing person.

Julia Wendell, who also goes by the names of Julia Faustyna or Julia Wandelt, thought she could be Madeleine thanks to similarities in their appearance.

Madeleine disappeared in 2007 at the age of three while on holiday with her family in Portugal. Detectives have since spent millions trying to figure out what happened to the little girl.

Dr Fia Johansson, a private investigator who was helping Julia, has said she is "vulnerable" and struggled to "recognise who she was".

Speaking to The Mirror, the celebrity psychic said: "The case was always a very sensitive case.

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Julia believed she was the missing girl (Youtube/Dr Phil)

"I have always believed Madeleine is alive, but when I flew out to Poland, I knew Julia wasn't Madeleine.

"I knew all of the disorders Julia had. She was immature and couldn't recognise who she was. She needed to get closure."

Dr Johansson said Julia is "immature and had a number of mental health conditions", including ADD and depression.

Since receiving the DNA results, Julia has returned to Poland from the US to be with her father, but that won't stop Dr Johansson from keeping in contact with her.

Dr Fia Johannsson had been helping Julia (Radar)

She said Julia "never came from caring, supportive family members".

"Now she is with her father, I will continue to talk to her," she told us. "I believe she needs to be protected. The mother is like a poison in her life and she could have easily done the DNA test."

She added: " The parents could have calmed Julia down. The mother knew her daughter has mental health conditions."

Julia's father has two other children and works as a doctor.

Dr Johansson suggested he "could have talked to therapists and helped Julia" through his job before adding: "He does not sound like a father."

The pair recently appeared on Dr Phil together (Youtube/Dr Phil)

Julia's family had previously said they were left "devastated" after Julia went public with her beliefs that she was Madeleine, however, Dr Johansson defended her decision.

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The investigator said: " I believe in this now, I believe if Julia did not come out the way she did, there would not be the interest in Madeleine's case.

"At least Julia warned people not to give up on Maddy’s case. Next time, it could be Madeleine."

Dr Johansson added: " I'm glad investigators stood up and gave the investigation more funding."

Scarlett O'Toole