THE high street bustles with smiling tourists and families enjoying the school holidays, blissfully unaware of the horror that took place in the town almost 13 years ago.
But very few who live in Machynlleth, Powys, are able to forget the abduction and murder of one of their own, five-year-old April Jones.
D Legakis/AthenaApril Jones, five, was snatched from outside her home in 2012[/caption]
Nigel IskanderTourists in Machynlleth where April lived with her family[/caption]
Nigel IskanderLocal councillor Joy Jones says the day of April’s disappearance ‘feels like yesterday’[/caption]
The girl’s murder still casts a shadow over the historic town darker than the rugged Cambrian Mountain range running along its eastern edges.
On the town’s neatly laid-out Bryn-y-Gog housing estate, from where April was snatched by her evil killer Mark Bridger, most residents remain too traumatised to this day to even discuss the murder.
Most notably, April’s mother, Coral, who still lives at the semi-detached property that was once a happy, family home, is rarely seen on the estate now.
I hardly see Coral around nowadays. She has never stopped grieving
Coral Jones’ neighbour
As well as losing her youngest daughter, Coral also had to remind her husband, Paul, of their daughter’s death as he lay in hospital in 2018, suffering with memory loss following a brain illness caused by a cold sore that developed as he trained for a triathlon.
For her, “the anguish never ends”, one neighbour said when we revisited the town.
The local, who asked not to be named, added: “I hardly see Coral around nowadays. She has never stopped grieving.
“Because they never found April’s body, and because Bridger has always refused to tell the police what he did with the poor girl’s body, Coral has never been able to get the closure she needs.”
Bridger claimed he had run over the five-year-old and told cops he could not remember what he did with her body as he had been drinking heavily and panicked after putting her in his car.
But at his trial at Mold Crown Court on April 29, 2013, a forensic expert told the jury that fragments of human bone and blood matching April’s DNA were found in parts of his cottage, three miles away in Ceinws.
That DNA evidence was enough to convince the jury that April had suffered from injuries she could not have survived.
The cops called off the search for her body at the end of that month.
The neighbour added: “It is unspeakably cruel for Coral and her family not to have that closure.
“The very least that monster Bridger could do for April’s family now is provide that closure by revealing exactly where he hid her body, and – or – exactly what he did with it.”
Few who were living in this tightly-knit town at the time of April’s murder felt able to discuss their feelings last week.
Who is Mark Bridger?
Mark Bridger abducted and murdered five-year-old April Jones in 2012.
The former abattoir worker went to prison for his horrific crimes and is serving a life sentence.
He was born in Carshalton, Surrey on November 6, 1965 and was just 19 when he had his first run-in with the law.
He pleaded guilty to firearms offences, theft, attempted theft, and deception.
That was to be the first of many convictions throughout his life. He was convicted of driving offences and assaults before he moved from England to Wales.
He fathered six children by four different women.
One woman he dated was Elaine Griffiths and they had two children together.
Elaine’s sister Karen dated Paul Jones and they had two children before Paul met Coral and had April.
April’s disappearance and murder
April disappeared near her home in Machynlleth on October 1, 2012.
She was seen getting into a vehicle in the area on the day of her disappearance.
Eyewitnesses saw April talking with a man before climbing into a Land Rover Discovery with him and driving off.
After fitting the description of the man seen talking with April, Mark Bridger was arrested for her abduction.
After his initial arrest, the police found a large collection of child abuse images on Bridger’s personal computer.
A large search operation was then conducted by the police and search teams in the hope of finding April.
After an extensive search for April provided no insight into her whereabouts, police officially turned the case into a murder inquiry on October 5, 2012.
Just a day later, on October 6, Bridger was charged with child abduction, murder, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was additionally charged with the unlawful concealment and disposal of a body on October 8.
On January 14, 2013, at Mold Crown Court, Bridger pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering April Jones but accepted that he was “probably responsible” for her death.
Mold Crown Court heard from a forensic expert that human bones and blood matching April’s DNA were found in areas of Bridger’s home.
He claimed that he had accidentally run April over with his car and could not remember disposing of her body due to heavy drinking and panicking about what he had done.
His trial began on April 29, 2013, and on 30 May 2013, Bridger was found guilty of abduction, murder, and perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a recommendation that he should never be released by the Judge.
Despite his conviction, the whereabouts of April’s body remain unknown.
Bridger was last reported to have been moved to HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire, where he is defined as a Category A prisoner – the most dangerous in the country.
As one put it: “Least said, soonest mended, but it’s been nearly 13 years now and the memories are still as painful for us as they were back then.
“We are still a town in mourning. At least that’s how it feels. It’s as if we have some kind of collective trauma we can’t shake off.
“Machynlleth has always been a community-driven kind of town, and I guess that means we’re only ever as happy as the unhappiest person among us.”
Local farmer, John Pughe, 79, said the brutal murder is etched on the town’s identity now.
Killer Mark Bridger and has always refused to tell the police what he did with April’s bodyPA:Press Association
Neil Jones – The SunApril’s parents Paul and Coral Jones in 2014[/caption]
Nigel IskanderThe girl was taken from the town’s Bryn-y-Gog housing estate[/caption]
Nigel IskanderAntique dealer Rob Willis says the trauma for locals has not gone away[/caption]
Neil Jones – The SunThe jury in Bridger’s trial is shown around the Bryn-y-Gog estate where April lived[/caption]
He said: “The community was shocked to the core at the time of April’s disappearance and the hurt of her abduction and murder is still a raw wound.
“Yes, people here try to move on and get on with life again and I guess with time it will get a bit easier.
“But the worst thing is that they never found April’s body. No one is sure quite what happened to her, and that’s meant there has never been a proper closure.
“I’m not surprised people don’t want to talk about it; it opens some very raw wounds.”
On the surface everything goes on as normal – people go shopping, to the library, they serve fish and chips to the tourists – but underneath the trauma has not gone away
Rob Willis
And Rob Willis, a 76-year-old antique dealer in the town throughout his adult life, said from his store on the high street: “It’s hard to talk about the lasting effect of the murder on people here.
“At the time, everyone was stunned. We just couldn’t believe what had happened in this close community.
“On the surface, everything goes on as normal – people go shopping, to the library, they serve fish and chips to the tourists – but underneath the trauma has not gone away.
My sister April Jones was killed by evil predator when she was just five – our family’s suffering will never end
By Will Potter
THE sister of murdered schoolgirl April Jones previously spoke out about her family’s suffering since her death – and how it would never end.
April’s older sister Jazmin, 27, chillingly spoke of how monster Mark Bridger attempted to communicate with her before he abducted the youngster in 2012.
Speaking in a documentary which aired on Channel 4 in December 2022, Jazz, then 27, said: “When she went, the whole thing just collapsed.
“Our family was fractured. Things are better now but, from that night, I didn’t have a mother. I had just lost my sister, and then I lost my mother too.
“I had to grow up overnight. I was on my own, really, trying to look after my little brother (just ten at the time), trying to help my dad.”
Speaking to the documentary, Jazmin’s mum Coral spoke of the devastating impact of Bridger’s heinous crime.
“He abused her,” he says.
“They found her DNA in his pants. Then we think he chopped her up and burnt her, after whatever he did to her.”
Jazmin said that although the details of the crime were unthinkable, she feels she needed to learn what happened to her sister to try and cope with the loss.
“I needed those answers,” she said.
“When you don’t have them you go to the worst-case scenario — what you are imagining is so terrible that anything is better than that.”
She revealed that just a year before April’s murder, Bridger had attempted to communicate with her on Facebook.
Following his arrest, the predator was found to have downloaded disturbing images of children, some pornographic, alongside photographs of April and Jazz.
She said he had tried to add her on Facebook, leading to questions over his potential obsession with the two and his targeting of April.
“It makes my skin crawl,” she said.
“I don’t want to think about it. I want to believe she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but if that was the case, I would have swapped places with her a million times over. I would have taken her place.”
“It was a long time ago now, but we cannot forget what happened.”
A younger local resident, university student Jess, 21, said she was 10 when April was killed. “My mum was a youth worker – she was in charge of the local youth club – and she stayed up all night when April disappeared. She wanted to try and do anything she could to help.
“She still gets upset about it today, it’s too horrible for her and so many others in the town to recall the events of that time.
“Also, I was at school with one of Mark Bridger’s children. She was in the year above me. It’s such a close community here. We all knew each other. It really wasn’t very nice.
“I remember hearing about it on the radio. It was just so hard to take it all in because you didn’t expect that sort of thing to happen out here in a place like Machynlleth.
“As a 10-year-old, it was so frightening to think that someone could be taken off the street in broad daylight like that.
“Afterwards, we were all so careful and we really looked out for each other. It brought us all even closer together.
“Now I’m working here during my Easter holidays, but I’ll soon be going back to uni to continue with my biochemistry degree. I guess we have to try to move on with our lives.”
Another resident, a retired HGV lorry driver, who asked not to be named, said: “It was very traumatic at the time and I don’t think anyone has been able to completely move on.
“I have grandchildren who live on the Bryn-y-Gog housing estate, and although no one forgets it, they don’t want to talk about it.
“Without a body, it’s hard to properly put it to bed.
“What amazes me, if I tell people where I live, no one associates my town Machynlleth with the dreadful murder. They just know it as a tourist spot.”
For Joy Jones, a Powys county councillor who represents neighbouring Newtown, the day of April’s disappearance “feels like yesterday”.
Neil Jones – The SunWork was carried out in 2014 to demolish the house where April is believed to have been murdered[/caption]
Nigel IskanderFarmer John Pughe said the brutal murder is etched on the town’s identity now[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdThe family of April Jones attending her funeral in September 2013[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationApril’s body has never been found[/caption]
Freelance PhotosThe estate where April was snatched by her evil killer[/caption]
Joy, a renowned anti-poverty champion in the county, was one of the first to be told of the abduction.
The 63-year-old told us: “I was informed shortly after April was reported missing by a friend in Machynlleth because they thought the vehicle was heading towards Newtown.
“We were all in a state of absolute shock. It especially affected all the young mums across Powys.
“The community found it hard to find closure on what happened to April.
“I know that people have said, you know, that because there was no real body found, that people don’t really know the full story.
“How did it happen? Mark Bridger has never confessed to what exactly happened.
“I think it leads to that feeling of frustration and I don’t think you ever can get over something like this.
“So there’s never closure because I think you left feeling very, very sad. There are still so many questions.
“And again, because it was somebody in your own community that did something like that, who you probably never suspected for one second that you would have a reason to do something to hurt a little child.
“Yes, I think it’s hard for there to be closure.
“Our communities are very close around these parts and a vile murder from someone in your community like this affects everyone.”
CollectApril’s disappearance shocked the nation[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationMark Bridger’s blue Land Rover Discovery was also shown to the jury during his trial[/caption]
Neil Jones – The SunBridger leaves Mold Crown Court in 2013[/caption]
Neil Jones – The SunApril was snatched while riding her bike[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
