Madeleine McCann: Julia Wendell splits with Dr Fia Johansson after DNA test

The Polish woman who claimed she was missing British girl Madeleine McCann says she is “struggling to understand” the results of her recent DNA test and has hit out at the private investigator who was representing her.

Julia Wendell went on Instagram to accuse Dr Fia Johansson of “trying to scare me”, asking if her offers to help were genuine, LBC News reported.

She also accused Johansson of withholding important information from the DNA tests, leaving her “struggling to understand” the results, which showed she could not be Maddie.

Wendell previously said she first suspected she was the missing British girl last year, after years of questioning her family history.

She did not send DNA to the British police, instead choosing a DNA test to probe her ancestry.

She has said she would wait for the results before going further with her claims, but when the results arrived, they did not show ancestry that matches with tragic Maddie.

“She is absolutely, 100 per cent from Poland,” Wendell’s advocate Johansson told Radar Online when the results arrived.

Julia Wendell believed she was missing girl Madeleine McCann. Photo / Dr Fia Johansson / Handout

Johansson replied on Instagram, saying that “Julia was provided all the information about her DNA results to check for herself”.

“Although Julia is disappointed about this revelation and the spotlight may fade away, the truth as presented in the results speaks to perhaps an unwelcome new reality,” Johansson wrote.

“I am glad she is safe and sound with her family, [which] she perhaps does not want. Her doctor of several years had prescribed medication, which she was not taking consistently.”

Wendell’s former confidante also revealed the Polish woman does not have leukaemia, but instead suffers from Cushing’s Syndrome, a pituitary disorder.

“Julia – I wish you the best despite what you say. We had an eventful journey, but like all good things there is always an ending, sometimes happy and sometimes sad,” she wrote.

Julia Wendell appeared on the Dr Phil Show.

Despite speaking to media around the world on her behalf, including an appearance on the Dr Phil show, Johansson now says she did not believe Wendell’s story.

“I have always believed Madeleine is alive, but when I flew out to Poland, I knew Julia wasn’t Madeleine,” she told the Daily Mirror.

“I knew all of the disorders Julia had. She was immature and couldn’t recognise who she was. She needed to get closure.”

The self-described “psychic” defended her actions, saying the story had brought attention to the McCann investigation.

“I believe in this now - I believe if Julia did not come out the way she did, there would not be the interest in Madeleine’s case,” she told the Mirror.

“At least Julia warned people not to give up on Maddy’s case. Next time, it could be Madeleine.”

The parents of Madeleine McCann issued a statement earlier this week after the DNA test proved that Wendell could not be their long-lost child.

A spokesman for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said: “There isn’t anything to report at this time. If and when there is, it will come from the Metropolitan Police.”

Kate and Gerry McCann in 2007. Photo / Getty Images

‘Rehearsal, not recollection’

During a recent appearance on the Dr Phil television show, Wendell told Dr Phil she only had “one early memory”.

“Beach and water, like sea or ocean, and there were turtles and children … and I remembered light-coloured buildings, like white or very light colours, sunlight on these buildings,” she said.

The memories, which paint a picture of the region of Portugal where McCann went missing, were given as strong proof of the integrity of Wendell’s story by Johannsson.

She said the fact that Wendell recounted the story the same way every time made her believe it was true.

“I see that very differently, actually - When I’m interrogating someone and they give me the exact story the same way every time, that suggests rehearsal, not recollection,” Dr Phil responded.

Madeleine McCann.

Wendell’s family have previously expressed their dismay at the media circus around their daughter and called for her to seek mental health treatment.

“For us as a family, it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step-niece,” her parents said in a statement earlier this year.

“[We’ve had] threats to our address from Julia [due to] her lies and manipulations, activity on the internet. The interest won’t forget [sic], and it’s obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie. We are devastated at this current situation.”