Police name man arrested in April Jones search
Police confirm that a man arrested yesterday under suspicion of child abduction, as a part of the search for missing five-year-old April Jones, is 46-year-old Mark Bridger.
At a press conference held at 10am today, photographs of local man Mr Bridger and his Land Rover Discovery were released. The police also described the circumstances of Mr Bridger’s arrest.
The police said Mr Bridger was found walking on the outskirts of the town of Machynlleth near the Dyfi bridge. He was wearing a camouflage jacket, black over trousers and camouflage trousers underneath. His Discovery was found in a repair garage in the Old Station Road area of Machynlleth. It has the registration: L503 MEP.
Police have released the photo and Mr Bridger’s identity in the hope that people who know him will come forward with information, whether that be specific to the search for April or more generally about Mr Bridger’s habits and places he visits.
In a press conference this afternoon, April Jones’ mother broke down as she begged for help in finding her daughter.
“There must be someone out there who knows where she is,” she said. “”We are desperate for any news. April is only five years old. Please, please help find her.”
Machynlleth mayor Cllr Gareth Jones said he hopes the town will recover from this trauma. “I hope we can get back to the ideal way we’ve been living our lives,” he said. “I hope this incident doesn’t change that. Machynlleth is a wonderful place with fantastic people. There is trust in this community and I don’t want that to be broken.”
“Don’t have any news”
Overnight, more than 40 police officers from Dyfed Powys and South Wales police searched “key locations” around the town of Machynlleth in mid Wales. Dog handlers and mountain rescue officers joined the search.
“I’m afraid to say I don’t have any news on the whereabouts of April, ” Superintendent Ian John said at a press conference at 7:30am this morning.
“As today goes on we will anticipate intelligence which will decide where the police search operation will go from.”
Challenging conditions
Weather conditions around mid Wales are “challenging”, Superintendent John said, increasing concerns about April’s safety. Heavy downpours are expected later today and police said they were also concerned about the safety of scores of volunteers who had been joining the search.
“We are extremely concerned about large numbers of the public going into challenging conditions,” Superintendent John said.
“Can you please leave this now to the trained and skilled officers?”
April went missing at 7pm on Monday night from the Brynygog estate. Witnesses say she was seen “willingly” getting into a light-coloured van. Her family have issued an emotional plea for her return.
Hundreds of people have signed up to a dedicated page on Facebook – with users of the social networking site from all over the UK hoping to increase awareness of April’s disappearance. Those joining the group are able to download a missing poster, featuring three photographs of the youngster, before sharing it on their profile.
Anyone who believes they have information is asked to contact police on 0300 2000 333.