‘I'm not crazy’: Madeleine McCann ‘faker’ doubles down on claim she's missing toddler as she travels to meet Kate and Gerry
4 May 2024, 11:27 | Updated: 4 May 2024, 11:30
A Madeleine McCann 'faker' travelled to the UK to meet the missing toddler's parents, Kate and Gerry, as she doubles down claims she is their daughter.
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Julia Wendell has repeatedly claimed she is Madeleine, despite a DNA test insisting otherwise, causing her to go viral on social media last year.
Ms Wendell travelled to the UK from Poland to attend a vigil for Madeleine, but the McCanns did not attend as they were on a "much needed" weekend away, Mail Online reports.
She reportedly brought a letter to the vigil as she hoped to speak to the McCanns.
Speaking after the service, Wendell insisted: "I am Madeleine McCann. I have never stopped believing it and I have come here because I want to ask Kate and Gerry to do a DNA test.
"They haven't done one to prove I am not their daughter."
She added: "No I am not crazy. I am not a liar."
However, a statement from the McCanns was read out by Rev. Robert Gladstone from the local parish church.
"Good evening, we are sorry that we cannot be with you tonight but we thank you for coming together and wanting to share your hope for Madeleine and other missing children," the message read.
"It's 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us. It's hard to even say that number without shaking our heads in disbelief."
Kate and Gerry added that it remains "very unsettling" as they continue to "live in limbo", not knowing what happened to their daughter.
"The absence still aches," they added.
Wendell, meanwhile, was accompanied by her friend Robert Zyla, as she made an unexpected appearance at the vigil.
It comes more than a year after Wendell received a full DNA test, which showed she is not Maddie.
Her social media following grew rapidly online, which eventually meant she was forced to flee her native Poland for the United states after receiving death threats.
While there, Julia took a DNA test to learn more about her identity, in the unlikely event that she could be Madeleine.
Her DNA test results have now confirmed that she is not the missing British girl, instead showing that she is from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage.
