April Jones killer Mark Bridger jailed for life

Throughout the month-long trial, Bridger had denied murder but said that he had run April over in his car. He still maintains that he can not remember where he had put her body.

The former slaughterhouse worker was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, as well as murder and abduction, and was sentenced to whole life imprisonment.

In his damning sentencing remarks, the judge called Bridger, 47, a “pathological liar” and a “paedophile”, and said he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Five-year-old April went missing after 7pm on 1 October last year while playing on her bike near her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales.

Bridger has relentlessly spun a web of lies and half-truths to try and distance himself from the truly horrific nature of the crime he perpetrated – Ed Beltrami, CPS Wales

April’s best friend gave evidence to court and recalled how on the evening she disappeared from the Bryn-y-Gog estate, she had seen April climb into the front seat of Bridger’s Land Rover. It later emerged that Bridger had lured April into the car by saying she could have a sleepover with his daughter.

The jury took just over four hours to deliberate at Mold Crown Court, Flintshire, and all verdicts were unanimous.

The nine women and three men of the jury convicted Bridger of Ceinws on three counts: abducting and murdering April, and of unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.

From the dock, Bridger, wearing a blue shirt and spotted tie, closed his eyes and appeared to hold back tears as the guilty verdicts were read.

‘You are a paedophile’

Judge Mr Justice Griffith Williams gave Bridger a “whole life” sentence.

He said: “There is no doubt in my mind that you are a paedophile who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid fantasies about young girls, storing on your laptop not only images of pre-pubescent and pubescent girls, but foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children.”

The judged added that the Jones family had had to endure Bridger’s “hypocritical sympathy,” and that April got into his car “innocently and trustingly”.

Following the sentencing, it can be reported that Bridger told a prison chaplain in Manchester that he may have disposed of April’s body in a river.

The priest later told police about the admission, which was not made in a confessional. But no trace of April was ever found in the River Dovey, which runs through the edge of Machynlleth, and police later said it was another of Bridger’s stories.

Mother: living with ‘guilt’

April’s parents Paul, 41, and Coral, 43, said they were “relieved” by the verdict.

They had attended every day of the trial and followed the verdicts from the public gallery, on a balcony overlooking the court room. Mrs Jones appeared to wipe away tears as the verdicts were announced.

They went down to the ground floor of the courtroom for the judge’s sentencing, and looked straight at Bridger while the judge’s remarks were read out.

In a moving victim impact statement, read out to the courtroom by the judge after the jury’s verdict, Mrs Jones said “the estate is quiet” as children are no longer allowed out to play.

“As April’s mother I will live with the guilt of letting her go out to play on the estate that night for the rest of my life,” she said.

She added that she still hasn’t been able to go into April’s bedroom because of the “pain” of her not being there, and that writing Christmas cards “broke [her] heart”, as she didn’t know whether to sign April’s name. She opted instead for a pink ribbon, that became a symbol within the community of the missing five-year-old.

Read more: The ‘fantasist’ killer who abducted April Jones

‘Cold-hearted murderer’

The trial, which began five weeks ago, was told that Bridger was a “fantasist” who had “a clear interest in child pornography and in child murder cases”.

The court heard how on the day of April’s abduction, Bridger had watched child sex images and pornography on his computer. He had also sent messages to three separate women on Facebook, asking two of them if they wanted to meet up with “no strings attached”.

Following the verdict, prosecutors said that Bridger was a “cold-hearted murderer” who “spun a web of lies and half-truths” to try to get away with his “truly horrific” crime.

Ed Beltrami, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Wales welcomed the jury’s verdict.

“Ever since his first interview with police in October last year, Mark Bridger has relentlessly spun a web of lies and half-truths to try and distance himself from the truly horrific nature of the crime he perpetrated,” he said. “He has refused to take responsibility for what he did to April and has stopped at nothing to try and cover his tracks.”

The search for April, codenamed Operation Tempest, sparked the largest search operation in British policing history, which also involved hundreds of local volunteers.

It lasted almost eight months and involved 17 police teams scouring 32sq km of countryside.

April Jones’s murder is the second high-profile case this month to feature disturbing extreme pornography, after Stuart Hazell was found guilty of murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharp.

Phillip Noyes, acting chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “This terrible case, made worse for the family by Bridger’s refusal to say where April’s body is, has left a deep scar on the nation.

“This case points to the ever-growing evidence that there is a worrying link between looking at this vile kind of material and committing other serious sexual assaults. April’s death will hopefully lead to effective measures to stamp out this vile trade.”

999 call: a transcript of the moment Coral Jones and her friend Valerie Jones reported April missing over the phone:

Coral Jones: Please, my daughter’s been kidnapped.
Operator: Hang on a second, tell me again, what did you say, your dog has been kidnapped?
CJ: My daughter was out playing with a friend and she’s been kidnapped.
O: You’ve been kidnapped?
CJ: No my daughter, she’s five years old.
O: Right, bear with me, it’s not a very good signal.
CJ: No, I’ve got to go, hang on, can you speak to them please?
Coral then handed the phone to Valerie, who was at the house.
O: Right, and what makes you think the daughter’s been kidnapped?
VJ: She’s gone off in a car with somebody, somebody’s picked her up in a car or something.
O: What’s the name of your daughter, can I take the name?
VJ: She’s not my daughter, it’s my friend’s daughter, she’s gone panicking, looking.
O: OK, what’s the name of the child who’s gone missing?
VJ: April Jones.
O: April, how old is she?
VJ: Five.
O: OK and this happened just literally minutes ago, did it?
VJ: Minutes ago, yes.
O: And the person that was able to tell you she got into the car, have they got details of the vehicle?
VJ: She just said it’s a big grey car with a man driving. Everybody’s just scattered everywhere to go and look now and I’m just by the house.
O: Is there anything else you can tell us at the moment?
VJ: No. Wait, wait, they’re coming, they’re coming.
In the background a woman shouts: “Come home, somebody’s kidnapped April, just come home, please,” and “Somebody’s kidnapped April, somebody”s kidnapped April.”