Private investigator helping woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann helped get actor acquitted from murder charges

The woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann is receiving help from a 'private investigator and psychic medium' who has helped an actor get acquitted from murder charges.

Julia Wendell, 21, shot to infamy when she claimed to be Madeleine, who went missing while holidaying with family in Portugal in 2007.

Since making these claims, Wendell has received worldwide media attention - and now has a private detective assisting her.

Dr Fia Johansson is a doctor of psychology and psychic medium who offers services to those looking to 'connect with the spiritual world and discover life mysteries, great love and relationships'.

Dr Phil

Johansson, who has 9.5 million followers on Instagram, claims to have had visions since she was a child.

Speaking of her work with Wendell, Johansson told Sky News Australia: "She has this mark in her eyes... that I can see when she's talking to me. I looked at the eyes and said 'oh my god that's exactly the mark'.

"The two have a distinctive brown smudge on their right iris. Maddie’s was due to a rare condition called coloboma - and share some other similar features evident in childhood photos."

Johansson has reportedly given Wendell a sanctuary due to the volume of death threats she has received since claiming to be the missing girl.

Wendell is certainly the most notorious case that Johansson has worked on - but she claims to have worked with big names in the past.

One case involved her helping actor Jamal Trulove, who was wrongly convicted of murder in 2010, to be freed.

In a previous interview with The Sun, Johansson also claimed that she had been called upon to assist world governments, solve murder mysteries and help Hollywood celebrities reach fame and fortune.

Instagram/@persianmedium

She even claimed she solved her first case - which involved a missing girl - when she moved from Iran to Sweden.

Johansson said: "I remember that I could sense the place where she is but because it was in another language I couldn't understand what she was saying. The lawyer grabbed some paper and made me write what I heard and it turned out to be a place in Sweden.

"They thought it was impossible for me to know anything about this case - I hadn’t been in the country before, I couldn’t speak the language. But they said they would extend the investigation and sure enough 10 days later they found Jessica’s body."

This prompted her to take an interest in solving crimes, and Johansson went to a police academy to learn crime scene investigation and law.

Her 'abilities' are seemingly in high demand, as she charges $35 (£28) a minute for her advice or $2,500 (£2,014) for a one hour meeting.