Polish woman Julia Wandelt doubles down on claim she’s Madeleine McCann

A Polish woman has doubled down on her claim that she is Madeleine McCann, alleging new evidence “strongly supports” her theory.

A Polish woman has doubled down on her claim she is Madeleine McCann, alleging a recent set of DNA results “strongly support” the theory the missing British toddler’s father could be her own.

Julia Wandelt garnered global attention in February 2023 when she began posting to Instagram under the handle @iammadelinemccann.

Across dozens of posts, the 23-year-old claimed to be Kate and Gerry McCann’s daughter, who was abducted from her bed while on vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. She was three years old.

A DNA test at the time found Ms Wandelt to be of Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian heritage – in other words, she couldn’t be Madeleine. She went on to tell the BBC in an interview last year that she “regretted” the ordeal, and had apologised to the McCanns for any pain she’d caused unintentionally.

Six days ago, however, Ms Wandelt returned to Instagram with a new account, @amijuliawandelt, to share the “results” of a fresh DNA test she claimed were submitted to a “world expert”, who compared them to the crime scene following Madeleine’s disappearance. She also claimed they matched the toddler’s eyes, teeth and voice with her own.

Julia Wandelt has doubled down on the claim she’s Madeleine McCann. Picture: Dr Fia Johansson

McCann disappeared from her family’s hotel room in Portugal in May 2007. Picture: Metropolitan Police/AFP

In a series of posts, in which she referred to Kate and Gerry McCann has “my parents”, Ms Wandelt said her “actual dna results show that I am part British, part Irish” and that genetic evidence “strongly supports that Gerry McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father”.

The McCanns “refused” to participate in the tests.

Ms Wandelt’s “source” claimed her DNA results were a “perfect match” to the samples taken from the scene of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Ms Wandelt returned to Instagram with a new account, @amijuliawandelt, to share the 'results' of a fresh DNA test. Picture: Instagram

The unnamed source allegedly analysed “hair obtained from the floor of the crime scene in Portugal” and “saliva obtained from the bed quilt at the scene”, resulting in a 69.23 per cent match which “suggests a biological connection between the two individuals”.

“The genetic evidence strongly supports that (Gerry) McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father, as the data aligns perfectly with a parent-child relationship,” they claimed.

“If this analysis is accurate and properly derived from their DNA samples, the relationship between McCann and Julia Wandelt is biologically consistent with that of a father and daughter.”

Ms Wandelt previously said she ‘regretted’ her claims. Picture: YouTube/Dr Phil

A spokesperson for Ms Wandelt, Surjit Singh Clair, told The Daily Mail she remains determined for the McCanns and her Polish parents to take a DNA test, despite both parties’ repeated refusal to do so.

“Despite indicators she is related to Gerry McCann, neither he nor Kate will take a DNA test,” Mr Clair said.

“Police have denied organising a DNA test after hearing Julia was Polish on the BBC, but even if she was just ‘a random Polish person’ how can they possibly explain her DNA being linked to the crime scene?

“They have spent £20 million ($39.7m) on this investigation and now won’t spend £60 ($119) on a DNA test, even thought she offered to pay for it.”

Kate and Gerry McCann have refused to participate in Ms Wandelt’s tests. Picture: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP

In January last year, Ms Wandelt told the BBC she had been sexually abused as a young child, and started believing she was Madeleine after seeing resemblances between sketches of suspects in the case and her own abuser.

The alleged abuse, Ms Wandelt said, had left gaps in her memory. She also claimed her family had never shown her a birth certificate or photos of herself as a baby – which they refuted in 2023.

“For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step-niece,” they said in a statement at the time.

“We have memories, we have pictures. We always tried to understand all the 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.”

Originally published as Polish woman Julia Wandelt doubles down on claim she’s Madeleine McCann