'I'm not a fraud and I'm not a paedophile': Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann hits back in defiant post
20 April 2023, 10:43 | Updated: 20 April 2023, 10:45
The woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has hit back at claims she had child pornography on her phone in a defiant online post.
Polish woman Julia Wendell has hit back after allegations emerged that indecent images of children were found on her phone in California.
Julia, 21, sparked worldwide headlines after claiming she was Madeleine who vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007.
Private investigator and self-confessed celebrity psychic Dr Fia Johansson took her to California after she received death threats in Poland but the two have now fallen out after a DNA test found she was not Madeleine.
Dr Johansson has reported Julia to Orange County Sheriff's Department in California, who have said the phone will be sent on to police in Germany and Poland to investigate.
She has handed over a phone she says Julia left behind and alleged it contains explicit images of children, as well as evidence she encouraged young girls to join sex platforms, The Sun reported.
Julia has denied the phone is hers. Today, she wrote: "I am not delusional or psychotic.
"I have never broken the law in any way. I'm not a fraud and I'm not a paedophile."
Read More: Phone seized by cops probing case of woman who claimed she is Madeleine McCann
Last week Julia apologised to Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann for causing them "sadness" as a result of her claims.
Julia had more than one million followers on her now deactivated Instagram account iammadeleinemccan after making her claims.
She said she had few memories from her childhood and pointed to a defect in her eye similar to the one Madeleine was known to have to back up her claims.
In recent posts, she insisted: "I have to say I never said I am Madeleine. I always said that I believe I could be Madeleine."
Private investigator and celebrity medium Dr Johansson took her to California after she received death threats in Poland.
She was given power of attorney over the 21-year-old and appeared alongside her on US talk show Dr Phil.
After the DNA test proved she was not Madeleine, Julia returned to Poland and has said that Dr Fia Johansson was "trying to scare" her adding that she’s no longer sure whether the "medium" ever wanted to help at all.
