• Killer refuses to say what he did with girl's body
• Jurors weep as Coral Jones reads out statement
A former abattoir worker and lifeguard who was found to have abducted and murdered April Jones began a whole life prison term on Thursday still refusing to say what he did with the body of the five-year-old.
Mark Bridger was found guilty and sentenced after a five-week trial that left the young girl's parents still searching for answers. The judge said he believed that Bridger had sexually assaulted April before killing her last October.
April's mother, Coral, expressed relief that Bridger would spend the rest of his time behind bars but said: "We still do not know where she is and this will always be a very painful thing for us to deal with."
Sentencing him at Mold crown court, Mr Justice Griffith Williams told Bridger: "You are a paedophile who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid fantasies about young girls."
Some of the jurors wept as April's mother's victim impact statement was read out, in which she said she would live with the guilt of letting her daughter go out to play that night for the rest of her life.
Mrs Jones and her husband, Paul, moved from the public gallery where they had watched the trial to the body of the court to see Bridger being sentenced. They appeared calm as he was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars, and held hands as he was taken to the court cells.
Despite a six-month search – the biggest in British police history – April's body was not recovered, and the judge said April's family would struggle to move on. "Without the knowledge of what happened, her parents will probably never come to terms with their grievous loss," he said.
The conviction reignited the debate over whether men like Bridger, who had a library of images of child sexual abuse, are prompted to kill by such material. It will also lead to calls for more controls to be placed on the internet to make it harder for such images to be accessed.
Phillip Noyes, acting chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "Bridger lived in a fantasy world which included looking at child abuse images online. For some time we have been concerned about the growing number of these obscene images which are becoming more easily available and can fuel the fantasies of offenders like Bridger. This case points to the ever growing evidence that there is a worrying link between looking at this vile kind of material and committing serious sexual assaults. April's death will hopefully lead to effective measures to stamp out this vile trade."
During the trial it emerged that Bridger had viewed a cartoon image of a girl bound and being sexually abused by an adult, just hours before April was abducted. It can now be revealed that a video found in Bridger's machine when police raided his home was paused at the point of a rape and murder scene from the remake of the 70s slasher film The Last House on the Left. He had recorded the same scene – but nothing more of the film – twice on one videotape.
It can also now be reported that the father of six told a priest while on remand in prison that he had "flung" April's body into the river. Police, however, do not set much store by this account, pointing out that he gave them many fake possible scenarios for what happened to April.
Det Supt Andy John, senior investigating officer, said he believed the truth was if anything even more grim. "I think the body has been dismembered and various parts have been placed in different areas. Possibly those remains would have been small and damaged. That's why we've had such difficulty locating them."
Police believe that fragments of bone found in Bridger's wood burner were from April's skull and got there as he cleaned up his cottage following the girl's death. Discussions will now take place over whether the fragments will be returned to the family so they can have some form of burial if they choose. The family have made it clear to police that they would like Bridger's cottage, Mount Pleasant, demolished.
John said: "For me the computer evidence points towards an individual who is evil, manipulative and has premeditated this. The unhealthy interest he has in indecent images of children is a clear indicator that this individual was going to commit something as horrific as he did."
April was abducted as she played close to her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, last 1 October. Bridger, who lived in the nearby village of Ceinws, did not realise that a seven-year-old friend of April's had spotted her getting into his Land Rover.
In the witness box Bridger, 47, insisted he had accidentally knocked April over and put her in his vehicle, but had a mental blank over what he did with the body.
The jury took a little over four hours to convict him of abduction, murder and disposing of, concealing or destroying April's body. The forewoman stared directly at Bridger, who falsely claimed to have served in the SAS, as she delivered the verdicts. Sentencing him, Mr Justice Griffith Williams branded him a "pathological and glib liar" who collected "foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children". During the trial the jury asked that the screens in the dock showing some of the abusive images be turned off because they worried that he was enjoying seeing them again.
April was in some of the decent pictures of young girls that Bridger had collected from Facebook but the judge said: "I am not sure you targeted April specifically but you were on the prowl for a young girl."
The van taking Bridger to Manchester prison was mobbed by about 20 people as it left the court. Prison sources say there is already a "tag" on his head and he will spend the rest of his life being protected from other inmates. He becomes the 48th prisoner in the UK serving a full-life term, joining the likes of notorious killers such as Rose West and Dennis Nilsen.Though he had a string of convictions for violence and deception going back to when he was a teenager, Bridger had no convictions for sexual offences against children or for having indecent images. Since his arrest no other allegations have been made against him. Nor is there any evidence that he has abused any of his own children. There are striking parallels, however, between the case of Bridger and that of Stuart Hazell, who earlier this month admitted murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharpe in south London.
Both men had no previous convictions for abuse but carried out sexually motivated murders after viewing images of child sexual exploitation. Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre, said there was a theory that men like Bridger and Hazell became caught up in a "spiral of abuse". Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
• Jurors weep as Coral Jones reads out statement
A former abattoir worker and lifeguard who was found to have abducted and murdered April Jones began a whole life prison term on Thursday still refusing to say what he did with the body of the five-year-old.
Mark Bridger was found guilty and sentenced after a five-week trial that left the young girl's parents still searching for answers. The judge said he believed that Bridger had sexually assaulted April before killing her last October.
April's mother, Coral, expressed relief that Bridger would spend the rest of his time behind bars but said: "We still do not know where she is and this will always be a very painful thing for us to deal with."
Sentencing him at Mold crown court, Mr Justice Griffith Williams told Bridger: "You are a paedophile who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid fantasies about young girls."
Some of the jurors wept as April's mother's victim impact statement was read out, in which she said she would live with the guilt of letting her daughter go out to play that night for the rest of her life.
Mrs Jones and her husband, Paul, moved from the public gallery where they had watched the trial to the body of the court to see Bridger being sentenced. They appeared calm as he was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars, and held hands as he was taken to the court cells.
Despite a six-month search – the biggest in British police history – April's body was not recovered, and the judge said April's family would struggle to move on. "Without the knowledge of what happened, her parents will probably never come to terms with their grievous loss," he said.
The conviction reignited the debate over whether men like Bridger, who had a library of images of child sexual abuse, are prompted to kill by such material. It will also lead to calls for more controls to be placed on the internet to make it harder for such images to be accessed.
Phillip Noyes, acting chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "Bridger lived in a fantasy world which included looking at child abuse images online. For some time we have been concerned about the growing number of these obscene images which are becoming more easily available and can fuel the fantasies of offenders like Bridger. This case points to the ever growing evidence that there is a worrying link between looking at this vile kind of material and committing serious sexual assaults. April's death will hopefully lead to effective measures to stamp out this vile trade."
During the trial it emerged that Bridger had viewed a cartoon image of a girl bound and being sexually abused by an adult, just hours before April was abducted. It can now be revealed that a video found in Bridger's machine when police raided his home was paused at the point of a rape and murder scene from the remake of the 70s slasher film The Last House on the Left. He had recorded the same scene – but nothing more of the film – twice on one videotape.
It can also now be reported that the father of six told a priest while on remand in prison that he had "flung" April's body into the river. Police, however, do not set much store by this account, pointing out that he gave them many fake possible scenarios for what happened to April.
Det Supt Andy John, senior investigating officer, said he believed the truth was if anything even more grim. "I think the body has been dismembered and various parts have been placed in different areas. Possibly those remains would have been small and damaged. That's why we've had such difficulty locating them."
Police believe that fragments of bone found in Bridger's wood burner were from April's skull and got there as he cleaned up his cottage following the girl's death. Discussions will now take place over whether the fragments will be returned to the family so they can have some form of burial if they choose. The family have made it clear to police that they would like Bridger's cottage, Mount Pleasant, demolished.
John said: "For me the computer evidence points towards an individual who is evil, manipulative and has premeditated this. The unhealthy interest he has in indecent images of children is a clear indicator that this individual was going to commit something as horrific as he did."
April was abducted as she played close to her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, last 1 October. Bridger, who lived in the nearby village of Ceinws, did not realise that a seven-year-old friend of April's had spotted her getting into his Land Rover.
In the witness box Bridger, 47, insisted he had accidentally knocked April over and put her in his vehicle, but had a mental blank over what he did with the body.
The jury took a little over four hours to convict him of abduction, murder and disposing of, concealing or destroying April's body. The forewoman stared directly at Bridger, who falsely claimed to have served in the SAS, as she delivered the verdicts. Sentencing him, Mr Justice Griffith Williams branded him a "pathological and glib liar" who collected "foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children". During the trial the jury asked that the screens in the dock showing some of the abusive images be turned off because they worried that he was enjoying seeing them again.
April was in some of the decent pictures of young girls that Bridger had collected from Facebook but the judge said: "I am not sure you targeted April specifically but you were on the prowl for a young girl."
The van taking Bridger to Manchester prison was mobbed by about 20 people as it left the court. Prison sources say there is already a "tag" on his head and he will spend the rest of his life being protected from other inmates. He becomes the 48th prisoner in the UK serving a full-life term, joining the likes of notorious killers such as Rose West and Dennis Nilsen.Though he had a string of convictions for violence and deception going back to when he was a teenager, Bridger had no convictions for sexual offences against children or for having indecent images. Since his arrest no other allegations have been made against him. Nor is there any evidence that he has abused any of his own children. There are striking parallels, however, between the case of Bridger and that of Stuart Hazell, who earlier this month admitted murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharpe in south London.
Both men had no previous convictions for abuse but carried out sexually motivated murders after viewing images of child sexual exploitation. Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre, said there was a theory that men like Bridger and Hazell became caught up in a "spiral of abuse". Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.