What He Was Building in the Basement: A Story of Pure Obsession and Horror.
At 7:20 in the evening, witnesses see a Land Rover suddenly speed away from a residential area. Just 9 minutes later, a call comes in to 999. Panic. A 5-year-old girl has just vanished right off the street where she had been playing with her friends. The first officer arrives within 8 minutes. There’s only one witness, another child.
She describes a man. She describes the vehicle. And then she mentions one detail that immediately raises red flags for the police. The girl got into the car from the driver’s side. That means the steering wheel is on the left, which is unusual for the United Kingdom. The search begins immediately.
Police block off roads. Hundreds of people flood the streets. Time is working against them. After a few hours, there’s still no trace. The next day, a name surfaces, a local man. His vehicle matches the description. He was in the area at the exact same time, and he’s already out there taking part in the search.
When he’s detained, he immediately says, “I know what this is about.” And then he adds that it was an accident, that he hit her with the car and tried to help, but experts find no evidence of any collision, no signs of impact, no blood in the vehicle. That’s when investigators turn their attention to his house.
Inside, there’s a strong chemical smell and fresh ash in the fireplace. And beneath a layer of carpet, they find blood. Guys, let me steal just a minute of your time. I’m really curious where you’re all watching from. So, I want to ask you to drop your city in the comments and tell me what time it is for you right [music] now. Thanks for sticking with me.
Go ahead and comment that, and I’ll keep going. On April 4th, 2007, April Jones is born to her parents, Coral and Paul. She was a bright and happy little girl, truly the heart of her family. At a very young age, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and needed to take medication every single day.
But even with that, she lived life to the fullest and brought joy to everyone she met. Her family said she ran the whole house with her playful personality. Yet at the same time, she was kind and incredibly loving. She loved spending time outside and would often ride her bike with friends. At school, she was a dedicated student and well-liked by both her classmates and her teachers.
On September 30th, 2012, April received an excellent report from her primary school. Because of that great school report, she was allowed to stay out and play a little longer that evening. She was playing with her friends near her home in the Bryn-y-Gog estate area. At 7:20 in the evening, a Land Rover is seen speeding away from the Midlands.
Just 9 minutes later, a panicked call comes in to 999. Panic. It’s an emergency. Hello. And what makes you think the daughter has been kidnapped? >> she’s gone off in a car with somebody. Somebody picked her up in a car, I’m told. What’s the name of the child that’s gone missing? >> April Jones.
April, how old is she? Five. The 999 operator didn’t waste a second and immediately dispatched police. And just 8 minutes later, the first officer arrived on scene. She spoke with the only witness, April’s 7-year-old friend who had been outside with her, and the girl was able to give a brief description. The man who took April had brown hair, a beard, blue or green eyes, and was wearing a green jacket or sweater along with jeans and sneakers.
She also described the vehicle, >> [music] >> and one detail immediately caught investigators’ attention. The friend said April got into the car through the driver’s side door. That meant the steering wheel was on the left, which is unusual since most cars in the United Kingdom have it on the right.
Based on this information, police declared a major incident, treating it as a suspected abduction, and they needed to work through as many leads as possible to figure out where April was because time was absolutely critical. That day had started like any other. At least that’s how her older sister described it, a completely normal day. April had gone to her swimming lesson as usual, and afterwards she ran home straight from the changing room.
Even though it was already October, [music] the sun was still out and the evening felt warm. Her older sister had gone to the youth club, and around 7:30 in the evening, she got a call from their mother, who was hysterical, screaming into the phone that April was missing. As the sun began to set, the panic only grew stronger.
The community’s response was immediate and overwhelming once the news [music] spread across social media. People started leaving their homes to help in any way they could and to support the Jones family. At the same time, it made door-to-door inquiries more difficult [music] for police since many people weren’t home, and officers could only speak with them once they returned.
When April’s older sister came back from the youth [music] club, she expected April to already be home. But instead, her mother was out searching, completely distraught, while police were combing the area. As the search intensified, the media picked up the story [music] that a 5-year-old girl had likely been abducted, and soon the eyes of the world were fixed on [music] this small Welsh community shaken by something so rare for the area.
By 10:30 that night, police released an update saying [music] their concern for April was growing and urging anyone with information to come forward. [music] Hundreds of local volunteers gathered to join the search after the news spread on Twitter and Facebook, and one of the police’s top priorities was also supporting her devastated family.
Authorities shared more details about the circumstances of April’s disappearance, noting that she had last been seen wearing a purple coat and a school polo shirt. Garbage collection was suspended [music] as workers joined the search, and with every passing hour, more people came out to help, eventually pushing the number of local volunteers into the hundreds.
The town, with a population of just over 2,000 people, was suddenly filled with volunteers, some even traveling from South Wales and the north of England. Police emphasized the need to keep the volunteer effort organized and effective, and April’s family was not allowed to take part in the search in case they might come across something traumatic.
So, the community stepped in fully. One of the first major challenges search teams faced was the terrain, with vast rural areas, mountains, ravines, streams, waterfalls, and uneven ground making the search incredibly difficult. There were also slate mines in the area, and all of this, combined with rain, created serious obstacles for those trying to find April.
More than 60 square kilometers were searched, with over 300 specific search zones identified, and police knew that if April had been taken by a stranger, every single second mattered in finding her alive and safe. 8 hours after the first 999 call, police and the community were still searching for April Jones, with 120 search personnel working through the night.
The next morning, a decision was made to activate the child rescue alert system, which notifies police forces across the United Kingdom to watch for anything suspicious matching the description of April and the person believed to have taken her. Information was distributed to other units, including descriptions of April, the suspected abductor, and the vehicle her friend said she got into.
And this became the first time a nationwide child rescue alert was issued for April, just minutes after she disappeared. April! Within minutes of April’s disappearance, Okay, people, let’s go for it. >> the people of Machynlleth had turned out in their hundreds to help in the search. Alongside professional volunteers, they carried on through the night.
There’s a large number of people here this morning, and we are very grateful indeed for all of your help and assistance. And into the following day. 14 hours had passed since she was last seen, and still there was no trace of the missing 5-year-old girl. Missing person posters began appearing all over the area, and police set up roadblocks, stopping vehicles as the investigation intensified.
At the same time, pressure from the media kept building, demanding more information. So, press conferences were held every few hours, sometimes announced with very little notice. While the search continued, Detective Superintendent Andy John was tasked with identifying the likely abductor. After April’s friend had some time to rest, police spoke with her again to get a more detailed account of what she saw at the moment April disappeared.
>> [music] >> It became clear that April had gotten into the car with the driver’s help, but it was still unclear whether she knew him. And because of her cerebral palsy, she wouldn’t have been able to get into the vehicle on her own. By the morning of October 2nd, just 1 day after April vanished, new information kept coming in, and it all started pointing to one person, a local man named Mark Bridger, who was not previously known to local police.
Reports confirmed that both Mark Bridger and his vehicle were in the area around the time the abduction is believed to have happened. And what immediately [music] stood out to investigators was that his car had left-hand drive, exactly as April’s friend had described. It also emerged that Mark Bridger had actually been part of the search group looking for April while more resources were being deployed, including a police helicopter scanning the area.
Police also received information about four possible addresses where Bridger might be, and officers were sent to all of them at the same time, about 20 hours after the initial missing person report. But they found no sign of either April Jones or Mark Bridger. When officers arrived at one of the properties, a cottage called Mount Pleasant, at 3:03 in the afternoon, there were no vehicles outside.
One of the investigators went inside and called out loudly for April, but there was no response. Bridger had only moved into Mount Pleasant about 5 weeks earlier. At 4:30 in the afternoon, police announced that Mark Bridger had been detained. According to them, he was taken into custody [music] while walking his dog along a road after being spotted by a police helicopter at 10:42 in [music] the morning, several miles from April’s home.
And he never once looked up at the helicopter circling above him. He had also tried to change his appearance, cutting his hair and [music] shaving his beard. About 30 minutes later, Bridger noticed a patrol car, and after the officer [music] confirmed his identity, he turned and said, “I know what this is all about.
” The officer asked, “Where is she?” Bridger replied, “I It was an accident. I hit her with my car. I don’t know where she is.” He was arrested immediately. Officers described him as emotionally broken. Even after being informed of his right to remain silent, [music] Bridger said he had to speak. “I was out searching for her all night and walking today because my car is in the garage.
It’s a Land Rover Discovery with left-hand drive. [music] I didn’t abduct her. I did everything I could to bring her back around. I panicked. I didn’t even know who she was until the morning when I saw it on TV. I just wish I knew what I did with her. Where I left her. I want to apologize to her family. There were no signs of life, no response, no breathing, nothing in her eyes.
She was just lying there on the seat. I tried to resuscitate her. I wouldn’t have just dumped her. She’s a human being.” He was taken to the police station in Aberystwyth, which was closed to other detainees so investigative teams could work without interruption and fully focus on the case. After his arrest, Coral made an emotional public appeal alongside Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan asking for help in finding April.
There must [laughter] be someone out there >> [gasps] >> who knows where she is and can help to please find her. >> [laughter] >> We are very desperate for any news. April is only 5 years old. Please. Please help find her. In relation to this specific investigation, as I said earlier, we’re pursuing a number of lines of inquiry.
And Mark Bridger is one of them. And in relation to the images that I circulated to you earlier today, which was the Land Rover Discovery and Mark Bridger’s photograph, can I again ask, did you see this vehicle between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon? And do you know Mark Bridger, and did you see him during that time period, Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon? And if you have any information, >> [snorts] >> please contact us on the child rescue alert line.
Police reported that overnight search efforts involving 40 trained officers, dog units, and mountain rescue teams had produced no results in locating April. They thanked the public for their support, but warned about the extremely difficult search conditions. Later, authorities stated that the operation was unprecedented in the United Kingdom in terms of both its scale and the challenging terrain.
Neighboring forces and specialized teams were also brought in, focusing on more than 20 locations across the area. As part of the investigation, police received 600 reports from members of the public. Searching till about 3:00, they’ve gone home to sleep for a couple of hours, and they’ve come back at half past six for daylight, ready to go again.
The search involved 100 mountain rescue volunteers, 100 specialized police search officers, as well as the Coastguard and the RNLI. I’ve got two people who don’t have transport, so I need to take them with me, and I’ll meet you at this junction then. Lovely. Please tell them I’m going to tell the locals to stop. I don’t think they’re going to stop anyway, because it’s so such a close like community.
We just need to find her. During questioning, he told officers that April was dead. He claimed he had hit her with his car while she was riding her bike, causing severe injuries. According to him, in a state of panic, he put her into the vehicle and tried to perform CPR, but it didn’t [music] work. After that, he said he drove away with April’s body still in the car, and then claimed he lost his memory and couldn’t tell investigators where she was.
He insisted he had been drunk and didn’t remember what he did with her body, but said he was sure he had left her somewhere safe, and police chose not to release that information right away because they needed to verify what was true and whether Mark Bridger was being fully honest. After his arrest, police and forensic teams were able to secure his home and carry out a thorough search for any clues about what had happened to April.
As soon as they stepped inside, they noticed a strong smell of cleaning products, and the house was unusually warm, suggesting that a fire had been burning in the living room fireplace not long before, and footage from a police helicopter showed smoke rising from the chimney. Despite all the efforts, no trace of April was found either inside the house or in the surrounding area.
Andy John made the decision to meet with April Jones’s family on the evening of October 2nd to update them on the situation, and they were completely [music] devastated by the news that their beloved April would most likely never come home. During interviews, when he was confronted [music] with the evidence, Bridger behaved emotionally and unpredictably, but officers believed those [music] emotions were not genuine and described him as a fantasist and a liar.
His admission that the girl was dead came as a [music] crushing blow to everyone involved in the search, especially after they had worked through the night [music] in increasingly harsh conditions, holding on to even the smallest hope that she might still be alive. April’s older sister said the name [music] Mark Bridger didn’t mean anything to her at first, but the moment she saw his face on the news, she recognized him right away, as she had often seen him around town and knew he lived nearby.
As the investigation moved into its third day, police still needed to prove that Mark Bridger was responsible for killing April, >> [music] >> and investigators had to establish any contact between him and April during the abduction, as well as gather as much forensic evidence as possible. When police seized his vehicle, they found [music] no signs of a road traffic collision and no evidence that the car had hit anyone, directly contradicting Bridger’s claim that he had seriously injured April when [music] putting her into the car.
Forensic teams also found no blood or traces of it inside the vehicle, which further convinced investigators that his story about an accidental collision was a calculated lie hiding something far more disturbing. Since the vehicle examination revealed nothing, attention shifted back to the house, where it was believed the attack on April had taken place, and inside they found traces of her blood, indicating she had suffered serious injuries there.
From the fireplace in the living room, investigators recovered remains, including 17 fragments of her skull, along with one fragment found in the bathroom drain, confirming the worst fears. Police did not believe her body had been completely burned, but they suspected that fragments of bone had ended up in the fire and the bath during an attempt to destroy evidence.
Searches of the house and analysis of his laptop revealed that Bridger was an extremely dangerous and predatory offender, helping investigators understand why he had taken April to satisfy his twisted and dark desires. His internet history showed an unhealthy interest in children, and his computer contained folders with child sexual abuse material, graphic rape content, and images of previous victims, including Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, two 10-year-old girls murdered in Soham, as well as 13-year-old Caroline Dickinson, who was raped and
killed in a French hostel during a school trip. There were also images of local children on his computer, which investigators believed had been taken from Facebook and other social media platforms, including photos of April and her older sister. After this discovery, Jasmine recalled that a few months before April’s abduction, Mark Bridger had tried to add her as a friend on social media, and she had been sitting in the living room on her laptop when she received a Facebook notification, a new friend request from
him. She didn’t know who he was and showed it to her father, Paul, who had known Bridger since the early 1990s when they had dated sisters, but didn’t understand why he was trying to add his daughter, and Coral also warned her not to accept the request, so Jasmine deleted it, and that seemed to be the end of it.
When it became clear that the case was shifting from a missing child investigation to a murder investigation, [music] around 150 people gathered for a church vigil in April’s memory, led by the Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, and Reverend Rogers, and the atmosphere was filled with grief and pain. [music] Reverend Rogers said, “There were over 150 people here, including the police, and we’re incredibly grateful for everything they’re doing.
” The church was completely silent. It was an incredibly powerful and deeply moving service. The town was covered in pink ribbons after April’s mother asked people to wear her daughter’s favorite color. Police once again appealed to the public for information about the movements of the suspect, Mark Bridger, and investigators reported receiving more than 2,500 calls following their latest appeal.
Prime Minister David Cameron said this was every family’s worst nightmare and urged anyone with information to come forward. Time was quickly running out for questioning Bridger, as police had until 5:00 in the evening to either charge him or release him, although they could request an additional 24 hours of detention.
Bridger appeared in court in Aberystwyth at 3:30 in the afternoon, where police were granted another 24 hours to continue questioning him. Once again, the community responded in force, with around 450 people stepping forward to help search, using their knowledge of the area to comb through villages surrounding April’s home.
Have you got a car? Is it four-wheel drive? And the area which you know best. Volunteers were told to stay away from the river, wooded areas, and places like mine shafts, as those locations were being handled by specialized teams. On Saturday, October 6th, just 5 days after April disappeared, Mark Bridger was formally charged with abduction, murder, and perverting the course of justice >> [music] >> in connection with attempts to conceal her body.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service stated, “After reviewing all the evidence gathered, I’ve concluded that there is sufficient evidence to charge Mark Bridger with the murder of April Jones, >> [music] >> and that doing so is in the public interest. I have also concluded that there is enough evidence to charge him with attempting to pervert the course [music] of justice and with child abduction.
” This announcement brought mixed emotions. On one hand, >> [music] >> there was relief that a suspect had been caught, but on the other, there was deep pain, not only for the Jones family, but also because of what had happened to April, whose life was taken in one of the most horrific ways [music] imaginable.
But, who was Mark Bridger? He was born on November 6th, 1965 in Sutton, Surrey. He was the second of three children, and his [music] father worked as a constable with the City of London Police. After finishing school, [music] he enrolled at Croydon College, but never completed his engineering diploma. Bridger grew into a physically strong man, tall and over 6 ft, and people who worked with him [music] described him as outgoing, hard-working, and charismatic, while others noted his obsessive interest in the military.
He claimed [music] he had been a bomb disposal expert in the army, and even said he had changed his identity to protect himself from retaliation by the Irish Republican Army. And he also claimed to have served in the SAS. During questioning about April’s [music] disappearance, he spoke about his supposed military success, but all of it turned out to be false, as Mark Bridger had never served in the military.
In reality, he had legal troubles as a teenager, and in the early 1990s, he was convicted of property damage, involvement in a fight, and driving without insurance. In 1984, he became a firefighter in London, but left in less than 6 months, citing what he described as personal issues.
And around that time, he likely separated from his partner shortly after the birth of their son. That breakup led to a situation where his parents had no access to their grandson, causing a family conflict that was never resolved. And in later years, Bridger even told people that his parents had died. It was around this time that he turned his attention to Wales, a place he knew through his grandmother who lived in South Wales.
He moved frequently and worked various jobs, including in bars, as a cook, a waiter, a vehicle recovery mechanic, and in forestry. After many relocations, he eventually settled in Machynlleth, where he continued working in hospitality and kitchen roles, including as a hotel assistant, a welder during renovations of a local guest house, a lifeguard, and a slaughterhouse worker.
He had six children with multiple women, and just days before April’s abduction, he had broken up with his most recent partner and was reportedly deeply depressed. According to his own account, he would begin drinking after breakups and had been taking antidepressants on and off for 12 years, and it was clear that attention from women meant a great deal to him.
Just hours before he took April, he messaged three women on Facebook suggesting casual meetups with no strings attached. Even more disturbing, investigators later discovered that at 12:11 that same day, Bridger had been viewing a cartoon image from a collection depicting the sexual abuse of young girls, including one where a child bound with tape was being assaulted by an adult.
And when his vehicle was later found, a roll of tape was sitting on the dashboard. At that point, police had a much clearer picture of what they believed had happened to April. When he took her, he didn’t realize another child had witnessed it, and at 8:30 that same evening, his Land Rover was seen near his home in a village about 5 km from where April lived.
Police could not determine whether that was his first time returning home after the abduction, or whether he had gone there immediately after committing the crime, killed her there, and then left again to dispose of the body. And it’s possible he returned home more than once that day. The following morning, shortly before 9:00, Bridger was seen by a witness near a riverbank carrying a black plastic bag, and the witness later told police it looked like there was something inside.
He later took his Land Rover to a garage for repairs and pretended to help search for April until he was arrested shortly after. Fast track DNA analysis confirmed that April’s blood was found inside the Mount Pleasant house, most notably beneath the carpet underlay in the living room and in front of the wood-burning stove.
Police believed that he most likely sexually assaulted April, then brutally killed her, dismembered her body, and scattered the remains in different locations. And since Bridger had previously worked as a slaughterhouse butcher, >> [music] >> one theory was that he used skills from that job to dismember her after the murder.
Bridger was due to appear before magistrates in Aberystwyth the following Monday, and police said they remained focused and determined to find April, adding that 10 specialist teams had been carrying out a structured and methodical search from early Saturday morning. Mark Bridger [music] appeared in Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court, where a small crowd had gathered outside.
One man threw a bottle at the van transporting him, and others shouted abuse. He was later transferred to HMP Manchester, >> [music] >> previously known as Strangeways. There have been many expressions of hope over the last 7 days. This time, they lit lanterns. It marked the point exactly a week ago when April was last seen playing on this estate.
Since then, many emotions have been released. 6 months after April disappeared, her family marked what would have been her 6th birthday by releasing pink balloons on the Bryn-y-Gog field where [music] she loved to play. On Monday, January 14th, 2013, it was time for Mark Bridger to enter his plea. He claimed he was not guilty of abduction, murder, and concealing, destroying, [music] or disposing of April’s body.
Although it became clear that his defense was [music] essentially that he was likely responsible for her death. April’s parents, Coral and Paul, saw Bridger in person for the first time since he had taken their daughter, and they attended [music] every court hearing, determined to see this nightmare through to the end.
In March 2013, the BBC reported that the search for April’s [music] body was expected to come to an end in the coming weeks, and despite the fact that her body was never found, police and the Crown Prosecution Service continued [music] working together to move the case forward and prepare for trial. The trial had originally been scheduled just 2 months after the charges were brought, leaving investigators [music] and prosecutors with very little time to gather all the evidence and build their case.
When the trial began on April 29th, Bridger stuck to the same version of events he had given during [music] questioning, denying responsibility and trying to present himself as a caring person who had supposedly tried to help April [music] after what he described as a tragic accident. However, the testimony of April’s friend, who witnessed the abduction, became crucial in disproving his claims, as she stated that April got into the front seat, then climbed into the back, and the car drove away.
I didn’t know she was going to get into the car. During questioning by Bridger’s defense lawyer, Brendan Kelly QC, the girl nervously twirled her hair and at times hugged her teddy bear. Kelly, like everyone else in the courtroom, was not wearing a wig or a robe, and she was asked, “Did you get a good look at the Land Rover?” “Yes, I did,” she answered.
“Are you sure you saw April talking to the man?” “Yes, I’m sure.” It also emerged that the morning after April disappeared at 9:00, Bridger brought his Land Rover to a repair shop, claiming he had been in a crash. A worker told the court that while everyone in the area was upset about April’s disappearance, Bridger’s reaction stood out.
He was overly emotional, like he was on the verge of tears. The mechanic said Bridger kept asking how much the repair would cost and when he could get the vehicle back, appearing nervous and tense. Another woman involved in the search drove through the village where Bridger lived and saw him standing by the roadside holding a black trash bag near the river, less than half a mile from his home.
The evidence kept building. When he spoke with a male carrier about April’s disappearance, he pretended to be shocked and asked what kind of vehicle the police were looking for, but later he contradicted himself around 2:00 in the afternoon. After joining a search group, he told one volunteer he had learned about the disappearance at 9:30 that morning, and told another he had been searching all night.
April’s school principal also testified, describing his relationships and telling the court he had a pattern of involvement with young mothers with complicated connections between several families. She had seen Bridger at a parents’ meeting just hours before he abducted April and noticed him talking to a former student who was already in secondary school, which she found unusual.
April’s father also testified, as he had known Bridger since the early 1990s when they had dated sisters. And he described him as a risk-taker who drove like a maniac. He also recalled lending him an SAS survival book that was never returned, with Bridger claiming he had lost it. But Paul later found it during a visit to his house and took it back.
The court heard that in the hours leading up to the abduction, Bridger’s behavior became more predatory, as he tried to strike up a conversation with a 10-year-old girl playing near the area where April was last seen, and even invited her for a sleepover with his daughter, though nothing came of it. During questioning, Bridger insisted that April had never been in his house, but in court, when confronted with strong forensic evidence, he told the jury that images of April lying by the fireplace had come to him in a dream.
After all the evidence was presented, the jury retired to deliberate, and on May 30th, they reached their verdict. Mark Bridger was unanimously found on all three counts and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As the sentence was delivered, he stared at the floor and did not say a single word.
Today, her parents, Paul and Coral, watched in court as Mark Bridger was found guilty of abduction and murder. We are relieved that Mark Bridger has today been found guilty of the murder of our beautiful daughter, April. April will be forever in our hearts and we are so moved by the overwhelming support we have had from so many people from all over the world.
Even though he will never be released, he has refused to say what really happened that night or where April’s body is and no additional remains of April Jones have ever been found. Many believe this is the final piece of control he refuses to give up. By the end of the trial, Mark Bridger was described as a pathological liar and a pedophile with disturbing and twisted fantasies about young girls.
He forced witnesses to go through intense questioning during a trial that lasted 4 and 1/2 weeks even though he could have spared them that by pleading guilty from the start. Detective Superintendent Andrew John, who led the investigation, said, “Mark Bridger is an evil and manipulative individual who clearly seeks control.
He committed one of the most horrific crimes imaginable, the abduction and murder of a small, defenseless child. He’s a fantasist.” In July 2013, the BBC reported that Mark Bridger had been attacked in prison. The 47-year-old was slashed with a makeshift blade while walking along a prison gallery at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire.
He received medical treatment and [music] required stitches, but his injuries were not life-threatening and he was returned to prison the same day. In September [music] 2013, the family held a funeral and many people came to pay their respects. Because there was no body, the family buried an empty coffin carried by a horse-drawn carriage and the burial site was a cemetery [music] just yards away from where she had disappeared.
Police provided the family with ashes and bone [music] fragments for burial and alongside them, the family placed personal items giving them a place where they could come, remember April and be together. April’s coffin made the 1-mile journey from the house to the church through the middle of town passing pink ribbons along the route.
Last October, the ribbons were the symbol of the search. Today, they are a tribute to her and hundreds of people who had joined that search joined the solemn procession. Parents here holding their children close, too many mourners to fit inside the church. >> In December 2013, the court service reported that Mark Bridger had applied for permission to appeal, but the following month it was confirmed that he had withdrawn that application just 11 days before the scheduled hearing.
In November 2018, major search companies announced new measures to make it harder to find child sexual abuse material online. With up to 100,000 search terms no longer returning results that lead to illegal content. After the horrific events at Mount Pleasant, the house was eventually demolished and April’s family was present during the demolition.
For the both of you, what did this house come to represent? The horrific murder of my daughter. And a 5-year-old life just taken away. And it’s it’s nightmares ever since she was taken. Yeah. To have this house knocked down today is is just a relief for us. It’s something that isn’t going to be bothering us.
Isn’t going to be plaguing us for the rest of our It sits on the back of your mind all the time like and it main road is just there. We try to pass that main road like every couple of three days like and it’s it’s [music] there. So, there’s no worries about us going past and it’s a relief and perhaps we can move on a little.
Tragically, April’s father, Paul, later developed a rare brain disease. In February 2018, the family shared that because of his condition, he no longer remembered the murder. His wife, Coral, told the Mirror that Paul couldn’t understand why April wasn’t coming to visit him in the hospital. The family has always insisted that she should be remembered for the joy and happiness she brought into people’s lives, not for the tragic circumstances of her death.
