Why Julia Wandelt did not believe DNA result that shows she’s not Madeleine McCann and is struggling with findings
THE woman who believed she was Madeleine McCann was “very upset” at the DNA test that proved she was not the missing girl and had difficulty accepting the result at first.
Julia Wandelt, 21, has now returned to Poland where she will be supported by her father, according to Dr Fia Johansson, a psychic detective and private investigator, who has been looking into the case.
Dr Johansson, who is also a psychologist, told The Sun there are still “unanswered questions” surrounding Julia’s childhood but that the DNA tests she ordered “prove 100 percent” that she is not Maddie, who disappeared aged three in 2007 while on holiday in Portugal.
But she said that the global fascination with Julia’s case had shone a light on Maddie’s disappearance and their frequent social media updates had prompted 10,000 people to come forward to her with “fresh” information on the 2007 case, which she is now sifting through and sharing with official investigators.
Dr Johansson, who flew to Poland to investigate Julia’s case, told how Julia’s strained relationship with her mother – along with a difficult childhood where she was abused by a male who was jailed for his crimes – made it difficult for her to accept the result.
“Julia has had a difficult childhood, we know she has been sexually abused, she has been very open about this, and my investigation uncovered legal records proving that this was true,” she said.
“Then on top of that she felt she was being ignored by her mother, who refused to take the DNA test which could have stopped all this from the beginning and given her the closure she needs.
“At first she didn’t want to believe the DNA results, she was saying ‘What if someone changed the results?’ but I told her, ‘Stop this now’.
“I can understand as a psychologist why she didn’t want to believe her mother is her real mother.
“But I told her – she must stop this fixation now that she is Madeleine McCann and accept the result of the DNA test and start to move on with her life.
“The DNA test has proven she is from a small village in Poland where her mother and many cousins are from. These tests don’t lie.
“She accepts this now but she has been struggling to come to terms with it.
“I made sure that it was safe for her to return to Poland and I’ve spoken to her father who has said he will make sure she is supported and looked after and receives the health treatment she needs.
“I will continue looking into the case.”
It comes as the official Find Madeleine Campaign said there were no new developments to report – in response to a question about Julia’s claims.
In a post on the Find Madeleine Facebook page, the campaign’s co-ordinator said: “There isn’t anything to report at this time. If and when there is, it will come from The Metropolitan Police.”
Julia made headlines around the world and gathered a huge internet following after claiming she thought she was missing Maddie online.
Her family in Poland said they were “devastated” over the claims but refused to take a DNA test.
Dr Johansson vowed to help Julia find the truth about her background and spoke to Julia’s school friends, doctors, psychologists and police as she investigated the case in Poland.
She ended up whisking Julia back to LA after she received death threats online.
While in LA, Dr Johansson took Julia to various doctors to have health tests as they feared she had leukaemia and organised for her to take DNA tests to prove her ancestry.
She said she had come under lots of criticism for helping Julia, but she does not regret it.
“Lots of people have asked me why I got involved – was it for money, was it for publicity?,” Dr Johansson said.
“Of course it was for none of those things. I saw a woman who needed help, who was vulnerable.
“I’ve always had a deep interest in the Madeleine McCann case and Julia did have similar physical marks – the one in her eye and various birthmarks on her body.
“When I first met Julia and hugged her I didn’t get the feeling she was Maddie but I still wanted to help her.
“Now we have the results and we know for sure she is not Maddie I still think there was a reason that this happened.
“I have had so many people come to me with fresh information on Maddie case.
“They saw me speaking online and came forward and have shared information with me.
“A lot of them were coming from the perspective of ‘Julia cannot be Maddie because of this reason’ and then shared some information with me.
“I would say we have received about 10,000 messages about the Maddie case in the past two months.
“Myself and my team are now looking at all of these and seeing what is legitimate. Of course there are always going to be crazy people and people not telling the truth.
“But some people have come to me and said ‘I was around at the time Maddie went missing but I’ve always been too scared to come forward’.
“Others have told me they spoke to police at the time but lied and now they want to tell the truth.
“They’ve seen how I treated Julia and feel brave enough to come forward now.
“Of course we will share any information we believe is relevant to official investigators, we are already in the process of doing that.”
Dr Johansson – also known as the Persian Medium – has worked with law enforcement on several high profile cases around the world, and says she has used her psychic gifts to help locate the bodies of missing people, solve cold cases and even have wrongly convicted people released from prison.
The disappearance of Madeleine in 2007 remains one of the biggest unsolved cases in British history.
The youngster was only three when she vanished from her family’s holiday home in Portugal.
Her parents had left her sleeping with her siblings while they had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant – before realising at about 10pm that she was missing.