A woman who believes she may be missing Maddie McCann claims the family have approached her to take a DNA test
Julia Wendell, 22, from Poland, came forward this week to reveal how she had been abused as a child and believed she was the youngster, who disappeared in May 2007.
She claims to have been a victim of sexual abuse when she was young and says that a German paedophile – who was a key suspect in the Madeleine McCann case – was her abuser.
READ MORE: Girl who claims to be Madeleine McCann says her mum ‘doesn’t want to talk about it’
She also claims to have the same eye defect as the missing tot, as well as looking similar to parents Gerry and Kate, the Daily Star Sunday reports.
Julia Wendell, 22, has gone viral for wanting to check whether she is Madeleine McCann (Image: Tiktok/shellmc22)
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A source close to the McCanns said: “The family are taking no chances, they are willing to look at all leads. It is important they look at all of the factors, the girl does look similar. There’s no disputing that.
“If what she says is true, there is every chance it could be her. It all adds up.”
Julia’s claims went viral on the internet this week after posting her story on social media.
She said: “I have lived a very hard life and suffered a lot of trauma, my abuser was a German paedophile who was a suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation.
Madeleine vanished from Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007 (Image: METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)
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“I had not heard of this case until I started asking my parents questions about my childhood as I have little to no memory of it.
“The memories are all very blurry and when I have had conversations with my parents, things don’t seem to add up and they always try to change the subject.”
It is believed a family member of the McCanns has come forward to offer a DNA test, and Julia is hopeful to be in direct contact with Gerry and Kate in the coming days.
Kate and Gerry McCann have spoken out before how they will not lose faith in the search for their daughter (Image: PA)
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She continued: “I have asked for pictures of when my mum was pregnant with me, other medical records and any pictures from my childhood and she never shows them, she just always tells me I’m crazy.
“My school teacher when I was very young said that I wasn’t there from the start but my parents insist I was.
“After all this confusion I began to do my own research I discovered what had happened to Madeleine McCann and started to piece together the similarities we shared.
Madeleine’s age doesn’t exactly match up with the TikTok user (Image: Getty Images)
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“It has been so stressful trying to get people to listen to me.”
Julia hopes to make direct contact with the parents of Maddie, who vanished age three, in the coming days.
The McCann famaily has been approached for comment.