The parents of Madeleine McCann have chosen to issue a statement after the 21-year-old claiming to be missing daughter saw her DNA test come back as negative.
Julia Wendell, of Poland, went viral in February after sensationally putting forward the case that she is missing Maddie, who vanished from a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007, aged three.
Wendell created an Instagram account named “Help me, I need to talk with Kate and Gerry McCann” – the username is “iammadeleinemccan” – and supported her claim with pieces of “evidence”, including side-by-side comparisons of physical characteristics she shares with Madeleine.
The Polish native was ultimately forced to flee her homeland after her plea garnered such attention that she received death threats, but she has always maintained that she is not knowingly lying.
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According to reports, having relocated to the US, Wendell took a DNA test to prove her connection to the McCann family.
Yet those results showed that she is not Madeleine, confirming instead that she is from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage.
Speaking to RadarOnline, Dr. Fia Johansson said: “She is absolutely 100 percent from Poland. She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian but the test results show she is Polish.”
Prior to the results being published, Dr. Johansson, who has been given power of attorney over Julia, said her “gut feeling” before the test results was that her client isn’t Madeleine.
“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,” Dr. Johansson said.
“They’re not 100% but they believe that Julia’s mum is in fact her mum. They’re questioning her father’s side. They’re checking into that, that’s part of what they’re doing with the DNA.
“But Julia’s mum is in fact her mum is what they’re believing and she is not in fact Madeleine McCann.”
Peter Macdiarmid / Staff
Despite the high-profile nature of Wendell’s claim – she garnered viral attention online earlier this year – Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have remained silent.
Yet they gave a comment in response to a question on their find Maddie Facebook page after one woman asked:
“Is there any chance of giving us an update? There has been a lot of media about a girl claiming to be Maddie and DNA being done? Is it possible to let your followers know what is going on […]?”
The woman added: “Our thoughts and prayers are always with the McCann family and a safe return of their precious daughter.”
WPA Pool / Pool
Kate and Gerry, who have always maintained that Maddie was abducted after they left her and her siblings alone in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal to have a meal at a restaurant close by, issued a statement via their representatives last night. It read:
“There isn’t anything to report at this time. If and when there is, it will come from The Metropolitan Police.”
When Wendell’s claims first achieved viral fame, a source close to Kate and Gerry insisted that they were “willing to look at all leads”.
“The family are taking no chances, they are willing to look at all leads,” the source said. “It is important they look at all of the factors, the girl does look similar. There’s no disputing that.”
According to sources in the UK, authorities still looking for Madeleine are to be given a new cash injection worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to help with the search.
A source close to the investigation said: “This is excellent news. Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry will be delighted. It gives fresh hope.”
My only hope is that the case finds a resolution soon, and the tormented parents of Madeleine McCann can finally get some peace.
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