Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann reveals shocking childhood memories of holidays with men she didn't know
4 April 2023, 12:39 | Updated: 6 April 2023, 12:22
The woman who claimed she is Madeleine McCann has revealed shocking memories of her childhood including expensive holidays to exotic destinations by men she didn’t know.
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The case of Julia Wendell has captivated audiences across the globe after the 21-year-old hit the headlines after saying she could be Madeleine, who was last seen on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
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.
Now in an interview with RadarOnline Wendell has claimed she was sexually abused by a man who bore a striking resemblance to the man wanted for the abduction of the missing British girl.
The 21-year-old told the publication she remembered staying at luxurious beachfront hotels, similar to those in the Portuguese resort town of Praia da Luz, where McCann had been kidnapped while on vacation with her parents in 2007.
She claimed on another occasion, a strange man gave her a blue belly dancing outfit from a market.
And a third horrifying memory involved her hiding in a bathroom stall with another young Polish girl, scared of what was outside.
“We shouted and cried, panicked, we didn’t want to (leave the) toilet,” she recalled.
“I remember that I was in a pool room where there was only a sofa and a very old TV and someone, I think my mom, turned on the TV and I could watch a movie for children and later I said to her I don’t really understand what they said in this movie….And she talked at this time with men in the other room and she didn’t care that I didn’t understand it,” Wendell said.
Wendell recalls one memory where she was riding a camel in the desert and staying at two hotels – which she thought was odd. Wendell also recounted that she and another young girl locked themselves in a bathroom stall to avoid an unknown terror.
Facial recognition analysis said it was almost impossible that the two people are the same.Her Polish parents remain adamant that Julia is their biological child.
Speaking on US talk show Dr Phil last week, Julia said she wouldn’t want any contact with her Polish family if the DNA results prove she isn't Madeleine.
“If she is my mother, I don’t want to have contact with her that’s all, but I believe she isn’t my mother,” she said.Madeleine vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 aged three.
Scotland Yard cops investigating what happened are set to be given another £300,000 to keep the case going.
