'We still do not know where she is': the agony goes on for April's family

 
Kiran Randhawa31 May 2013
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

For the grieving parents of April Jones, the nightmare is far from over. Paul and Coral Jones continue to endure the agony of not knowing what Mark Bridger has done with her remains.

After Bridger's sentencing today Mrs Jones fought back tears as she said: "We are relieved that Mark Bridger has today been found guilty of the murder of our beautiful daughter April, however we still do not know where she is, and this will always be a very painful thing for us to deal with.

Mrs Jones, who with her husband was wearing a pink ribbon which has come to symbolise the search for April, read from the statement: "April will be forever in our hearts and we are so moved by the overwhelming support we have had from so many people all over the world.

"Paul and I would like to thank Dyfed Powys Police for the support they have given us, the investigation team, the search teams from all over the UK and our family liaison officers.

"We would like to thank our family and friends and the community of Machynlleth, who without their support we do not know how we would have got through the last seven months since April was so cruelly taken from us.

"We would like to thank the media for the respectful way in which they have reported April's story and would like to take time now to be with our family and to try and come to terms with the loss of April."

In the immediate aftermath of her disappearance, the couple refused to give up hope that April would return safe and well and appealed to the local community to support them in their search. But as the hours turned to days, the focus switched to the bleak reality that they were looking for a body.

While police were busy building a case against Bridger, the Joneses received detailed consultations from officers. The couple attended every day of the killer's trial, but little of what they heard against him will have come as a surprise.

Det Supt Andrew John, who led the Dyfed Powys police probe, said that from the outset he thought it was “paramount” that the family was central to the investigation and knew what evidence police had against Bridger.

He said: “I have taken personal responsibility for ensuring that the family are kept abreast on a regular basis of the status of the inquiries. I have taken them into my confidence and they are fully aware of the evidence gathered and have been consulted on a number of policy issues.”

Looking for April turned into the biggest search in British policing history, with a budget to match. Official estimates have put the cost of the search at £2.4 million.

Running, as it ultimately did, from October 1 last year to April 19 this year, it took in tens of thousands of man hours and a mountain of resources.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in