London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann receives DNA test results

Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann receives DNA test results

A woman who went viral after she claimed to be Madeleine McCann has carried out a DNA test.

Julia Wendell, 21, is convinced she is the missing child who vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.

She took to Instagram and Tiktok saying she could be the missing Brit due to similarities in their age and appearance.

Julia, from Poland, recently was interviewed on the Dr Phil show to expand on her claims.

Medical records, accessed by private investigator Dr Fia Johansson, were brought to light ahead of the segment.

She said that Julie had reportedly suffered a skull fracture as a child which had erased part of her memory.

The brain injury – which happened when she was eight – had initially left her unable to speak or walk.

Julia told Dr Phil: ‘I have some single memories since eight, nine years old.

Dr Fia Johansson (left) has been granted power of attorney over Julia Wendell

The 21-year-old believes she is Madeleine McCann


‘And before eight, I have only this one memory with beach and water, like sea or ocean, and there were turtles and children trying to catch the turtles and take them in their hands.

‘And I remembered light-coloured buildings, like white or very light colours, sunlight on this building.’

Dr Johansson, who is also a medium, has been granted power of attorney over Julia, the show was told.

She has dispelled any possibility Julia could be missing Maddie.

Madeleine McCann vanished from an apartment in Portugal as her parents ate in a nearby restaurant

Julia claims she has a similar mark on her eye


She told RadarOnline.com: ‘She is absolutely 100 percent from Poland. She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian but the test results show she is Polish.

‘We learned a few things, one being that Julia’s mum is in fact now believed to be her mum, so she is not Madeleine McCann.’

DNA testing into who Julia’s father is is still ongoing.

Relatives of Maddie previously insisted ‘it’s obvious Julia isn’t Maddie’ and blamed mental health issues and a lust for attention after gaining more than a million followers under the handle @iammadeleinemccann.

Detectives have similarly ‘ruled out’ her account, with Pawel Noga, a spokesman for the police in Wroclaw telling Gazeta the investigation ‘contradicts the version presented by this woman’.

Julia’s account started posting content in February. In one video she points out how she supposedly bears a distinctive spot in her right eye and beauty mark on her cheek which resemble Maddie’s.

The clip has now been viewed over 1.3 million times.

A description below the video read: ‘Help me, I need to talk with Kate and Gerry McCann.

‘I think I can be Madeleine. I need DNA test.

Madeleine McCann disappeared while on a family holiday in Portugal


‘Police investigators from UK and Poland try to ignore me.

‘I will tell my story in posts here. Help me.’

Met Police has spent over £13 million on Operation Grange in a desperate bid to find her, alongside international searches.

Christian Brueckner, who is currently in a German prison for a number of sex and drug offences, was named by prosecutors in the country as a chief suspect in June 2020.

However investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas found that there was no solid evidence linking the 45-year-old to the disappearance as he researched a documentary that was broadcast in May last year.

Brueckner denies any involvement.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×