Madeleine McCann’s parents skip vigil – but ‘Maddie faker’ turns up demanding DNA test
‘I am Madeleine McCann and I have come here because I want to ask Kate and Gerry to do a DNA test.'
The parents of Madeleine McCann did not attend a prayer vigil marking the 17th anniversary of her disappearance last night – but a Polish woman who insists she is the missing Brit bizarrely did.
Kate and Gerry McCann were said by a family member to be away at an undisclosed location on a ‘much needed’ break.
But a message from them was read out to the friends and well-wishers gathered at their local parish church in Rothley, Leicestershire, by vicar the Rev. Robert Gladstone.
It began: ‘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.
‘It’s 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us. It’s hard to even say that number without shaking our heads in disbelief.’
Echoing the update they earlier posted to social media, they added: ‘Whilst we are fortunate in many ways and able to live a relatively normal and enjoyable life now, the “living in limbo” is still very unsettling. And the absence still aches.’
Julia Wendell, 22, who has made headlines worldwide as the ‘Maddie faker’, listened on accompanied by a friend, clutching a letter she said she wanted to give Kate and Gerry.
Speaking after the service, she said: ‘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 thing to prove I am not their daughter.’
She added: ‘No I am not crazy. I am not a liar.’
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that up to a further £192,000 has been granted by the Home Office for the Scotland Yard investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
The confirmation of the latest annual funding for Operation Grange was revealed in a parliamentary written answer by Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom.
He also said that as of March this year, the Metropolitan Police had spent £13.2 million investigating the high-profile case.
The prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance is currently on trial in Germany charged with unrelated sex offences, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
The 47-year-old German, only known as Christian B because of the country’s strict privacy laws, spent many years in Portugal – including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in the resort town in 2005.
He had denied all the charges against him and any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
In June last year, German prosecutors said they cannot yet link items seized in the fresh McCann searches with the investigation into her disappearance.
A large section of the Barragem do Arade area of the Algarve was cordoned in May 2023, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing.
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