BLOOD from missing five-year-old April Jones was found in three rooms at the
home of the abattoir worker accused of the little girl’s murder, a jury
heard yesterday.
Slaughterman Mark Bridger, 47, also had ashes containing skull fragments near
his wood-burning stove — along with a large “boning knife” partly destroyed
by fire.
The court was told the blood — matching April’s DNA — was in the bachelor’s
living room, hallway and bathroom.
Shaken jurors — some close to tears — were also shown images said to be
from his laptop of child sex abuse.
As they were displayed on a court screen one woman juror could barely bring
herself to look.
She put a hand to her forehead, looked down and and shook her head.
Bridger put on his spectacles and looked intently at the images.
He lived a few miles from the home of missing April, whose body has never been
found.
The court heard that analysis of his computer revealed that eight days
before the little girl vanished last October — sparking Britain’s biggest
ever search — he had looked at pictures of the youngster on Facebook.
Also on his laptop were said to be photos, copied from Facebook, of two of her
half-sisters — aged 13 and 16.
He allegedly started compiling the dossiers on them five months before April
disappeared — saving the images in folders under the children’s names.
Snaps of child murder victims — including Soham ten-year-olds Holly Wells and
Jessica Chapman — were also said to be on the Acer laptop along with the
hoard of paedophile images.
Jurors had been warned to steel themselves before samples of the material were
screened as Bridger’s trial began yesterday.
Not all the images due to be shown were flashed up. Judge Mr Justice
Griffith Williams decided to call a halt.
He sent the jury home for the day, conceding as he did so: “Ladies and
gentlemen, some of those images are very distressing.
“Please remember this is the very, very early stages, you must not rush to any
conclusions at all.
“You must consider them, and everything else, with the utmost objectivity.”
April’s mum Coral, 43, and dad Paul, 41, wore pink ribbons in her memory as
they heard how Bridger has admitted he “probably” killed their daughter.
Prosecutor Elwen Evans QC told jurors: “You will have to decide whether
pretty five-year-old April was abducted and murdered or run over by accident
and killed, as the defendant says.
“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.
“The images depict adults having sex with girls, some consensual, some
non-consensual.” April, who suffered from mild cerebral palsy, vanished on
October 1 as she played near her home on the Bryn-y-Gog estate in
Machynlleth, mid-Wales.
The court heard she was seen happily getting into a car — which the
prosecution says was Bridger’s Land Rover.
Miss Evans revealed Bridger has admitted driving April away — and that she is
dead.
He also concedes he “probably killed” her and “must have got rid of her body.”
But the prosecutor went on to say that the defendant claims to have no
recollection of what he then did.
Miss Evans — who said the crime was “sexually motivated” — accused the
defendant of playing a “cruel game”.
She said: “He knows full well what he has done to April but chooses not to
say.
“He is playing a clear game in pretending not to know what he has done to her.
It is a game to try to save himself. April cannot tell us, the defendant will not tell us. He has played, we say, a cruel game in pretending not to
know what he has done to her.”
The images on Bridger’s computer allegedly included cartoons depicting
bound and gagged youngsters being sexually abused.
Two showed apparently dead youngsters.
One was of a pubescent girl, partially naked — and who had been hanged by the
neck. He also allegedly had a photo of Caroline Dickinson, 13 — the Brit
schoolgirl raped and murdered in France.
Miss Evans told Mold Crown Court that Bridger was “obsessed” with violence
involving children.
She said: “In addition to child pornography and photos of young girls, the
defendant also had an interest in child murder and rape cases — for example,
images of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman from the Soham case.”
She added: “There is an image of Jessica Runsford who was a murder victim in
the USA. Bridger said in interview he was interested in real-life crime
stories.”
Bridger pleads not guilty to abducting April, murdering her and hiding her
body to pervert the course of justice.
He sat in the dock yesterday wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt that
showed off a tattoo of a snake on his left forearm.
At one point he looked tearful — as a recording of the harrowing 999 call
reporting April missing was played. But for most of yesterday’s proceedings
he appeared calm and collected as he listened to the evidence through
headphones from the dock.
‘She’s
been kidnapped’ — 999 call from April Jones’ mum is played to the court
Outlining the prosecution case, Miss Evans said: “April’s body is lost to us.
We have had to look elsewhere for evidence of what this defendant did to
her.” She said analysis of Bridger’s computer use showed “context and
motive”.
Internet searches on his laptop were said to include “naked young
five-year-old girls”, “nudism five-year-old” and “British schoolgirl raped
and murdered”.
On the day April disappeared he allegedly looked at an online cartoon of the
“apparent rape of a physically restrained and visibly distressed girl”.
Police questioned him about a photograph of an eight-year-old girl who was
apparently pregnant.
He told them that he found it “astonishing and interesting,” the court
heard.
His cottage — called Mount Pleasant — was in the village of Ceinws, three
miles from where April was last seen. Police who arrested him the day after
the youngster vanished found it had been extensively cleaned.
But not all alleged traces of April had been eradicated — including the
samples of blood. One concentration was said to be around the living room
stove, where there was also a collection of knives.
The skull fragments allegedly in his hearth belonged to a “juvenile”.
Miss Evans said a witness who saw April getting into a vehicle thought the
five-year-old knew the man who took her.
Miss Evans said: “The account given by the witness stated she saw April get in
the driver’s door and climb into the back.”
The girl told police: “I couldn’t hear anything. I didn’t say anything. I just
watched. I thought she’d come back.”
The witness added: “April had a happy face as she got into the vehicle.” The
trial continues.