MARK Bridger was told he will die in prison after being found guilty of the “sexually
motivated” murder of April Jones.
Perverted Bridger, 47, was given a whole life sentence for killing the
schoolgirl after snatching her just yards away from her house.
An impact statement from April’s devastated mum Coral was read aloud to court
– reducing members of the jury to tears.
She told how she “felt guilty” for letting her five-year-old
daughter go out to play the evening that Bridger pounced.
She said: “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.”
Coral referred to her daughter as her “little fighter” for battling
health problems including cerebral palsy.
Former slaughterhouse worker Bridger was also found guilty of the youngster’s
abduction and intending to pervert the course of justice.
April’s mum and dad sat through the whole of the month-long trial at Mold
Crown Court.
Bridger stood impassively as sentence was handed down but shook his head when
the judge addressed his perverted interest in violent child abuse.
Mr Justice Griffith-Williams said Bridger “was on the prowl for a young
girl” on the night he killed April.
He added: “There is no doubt in my mind that you are a paedophile.
“What prompted you on Monday October 1 to live out one of those fantasies is a
matter for speculation, but it may have been a combination of the ending of
one sexual relationship and your drinking.
“Whatever, you set out to find a little girl to abuse.
“I am not sure you targeted April specifically – it was probably
fortuitous that she can be seen on some of the images which you stored on
your laptop of her older sister – but you were on the prowl for a young girl.”
Lying Bridger claimed he killed the youngster by crushing her with his Land
Rover but cannot remember what he did with the body because he was drunk.
April vanished from the Bryn-Y-Gog estate, Machynlleth, Powys, on October 1
last year.
Despite a huge manhunt her body has never been found.
The jury of nine women and three men came to its verdicts after sitting
through a month-long trial.
They took just over four hours to come to their decision.
The trial, which began on April 30, was told that Bridger was a “fantasist”
who had “a clear interest in child pornography and in child murder cases”.
The defendant himself had told police he was an SAS-trained “mercenary” but
was in fact a former abattoir worker and a failed London fireman – who quit
the service after six months because he could not reach the required
training standard.
Elwen Evans QC, prosecuting, said Bridger murdered five-year-old April and
then played a “cruel game” in an attempt to cover his tracks.
She told the jury: “He claimed to know the rugged terrain around Machynlleth
well, and that’s been a significant feature in police determining the size,
scope and scale in their search for April.”
Miss Evans also told the jury about the kind of obscene material which had
been found on Bridger’s laptop following his arrest.
Police found numerous indecent images on the computer, as well as pictures of
young female murder victims, including Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the
victims of Soham killer Ian Huntley.
Bridger also had images of local young Machynlleth girls, including April and
her half-sisters, aged 13 and 16.
“We say his interest in pornography, young girls, rape and murder cases is all
too relevant and you may see it as the key to understanding what he did and
why he did what he did,” Miss Evans told them.
It is not known what Bridger said to April to entice her into his car. The
court heard she was “happy and smiling” when she was seen climbing into a
Land Rover Discovery.
Miss Evans told the jury Bridger’s claim that April died in a car accident was
a lie to cover up his “sexual” motivation for snatching the five-year-old.
Early in the trial, the jury was taken to visit Bridger’s cottage, Mount
Pleasant, where April’s blood and small bone fragments were found.
After the verdict, Ed Beltrami, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wales, called
Bridger a “cold-hearted murderer”.
He said: “We welcome today’s verdict, which brings to a close a difficult
and challenging prosecution.
“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 has refused to take responsibility for what he did to April and has
stopped at nothing to try and cover his tracks.
“Working together, we have been able to comprehensively dismantle
Bridger’s version of events and expose him as a violent, cold-hearted
murderer and a calculated liar.
“I would like to record our thanks to everyone who supported the prosecution
of this case. Everyone who has provided a statement to police or given
evidence in court has played their part in today’s verdict.
“At the very heart of this case are April’s family, who have been through –
and continue to go through – an ordeal of appalling magnitude.
“They have conducted themselves with a humbling dignity throughout. We
can only hope that today’s verdict will be of some help to them as they
continue to try and come to terms with the loss of April.”
The search for April’s remains will resume if new information is disclosed by
the killer, police have pledged.
Her abduction sparked the largest search operation in British policing history
over a sprawling network of mountains, rivers, fields and forrests.
The effort to return April to her family, codenamed Operation Tempest, lasted
almost eight months and involved 17 police teams scouring 32sq km of
countryside.
Inspector Gareth Thomas, the search coordinator for Dyfed-Powys Police, said:
“The driving force for us has always been to find April and reunite her with
her family.
“That was the priority right from the start and that’s what was motivating all
those officers who came to help from all over the country and further afield.”