'I feel sorry for her': Investigator helping woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann sends message to her mum

24 March 2023, 11:24 | Updated: 6 April 2023, 12:15

Dr Fia Johansson with Julia Wendell (l) and (top r). Madeleine McCann (bottom r)
Dr Fia Johansson with Julia Wendell (l) and (top r). Madeleine McCann (bottom r). Picture: social media

By StephenRigley

The private detective who is helping the woman who believes she may be Madeleine McCann has shared a message for the Pole's mother.

Dr Fia Johansson, the private investigator and medium who has taken up Julia's case said she felt 'sorry' for her mother and will not give up the case even if a DNA test proves that she cannot be Madeleine.

In a live video on Instagram, Dr Johansson said: "The more I investigate about Julia’s life in Poland, the more deeply I felt sorry for Julia and I felt sorry for Julia’s mum as a human being."

Dr Johansson said Julia's mother had been in contact with a UK-based social media page to try to dismantle her daughter's claims.

Read More: Woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann says she suffered emotional breakdown after fleeing Poland due to death threats

She added: "To me it was like wow, the mother saying to everyone that I am concerned and worried about my daughter, and then all of a sudden, instead of communicating with the spokesperson, or the investigator, or the person named Fia that’s helping the daughter, choosing to go to some fan-page, UK-based, and saying all those things."

Dr Johansson with Julia Wendell
Dr Johansson with Julia Wendell. Picture: social media
Dr Johansson
Dr Johansson. Picture: social media

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Dr Johansson took up the case after Julia pointed out similarities she had with Madeleine, who vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007.

Her @IAmMadeleineMcCann Instagram account totally over one million followers before it was shut down. Julia claims she looks similar to e-fits predicting what Madeleine would look like today, at age 19, and other members of the McCann family.

She says they both have the same rare eye condition – a coloboma in her right eye, which makes the pupil appear misshapen as part of the tissue is missing and has very few memories of her childhood.

Julia Wendell who claims she may be Madeleine McCann
Julia Wendell who claims she may be Madeleine McCann. Picture: social media
Madeleine McCann who went missing on family holiday to Portugal in 2007
Madeleine McCann who went missing on family holiday to Portugal in 2007. Picture: social media

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Dr Johansson, who whisked her to California after she received death threats in Poland, says she found no hospital records in the city she supposedly grew up in from the first five years of her life.

Julia is waiting for DNA results which are due imminently. These will determine whether or not she could be Madeleine.

But even if she isn't Madeleine, Dr Johansson is convinced she was trafficked into Poland.

Dr Johansson added: "Am I going to back off even if I find out she’s not Madeleine McCann? Of course not."