Murder of April Jones was ‘sexually motivated’, court hears

The murder of schoolgirl April Jones was “sexually motivated” and her killer “played a cruel game” as he tried to cover up the killing, a court heard today.

Mark Bridger (47), is on trial at Mold Crown Court accused of abducting and murdering the five-year-old.

April vanished while playing on her bike near her home in Machynlleth, Mid Wales, on October 1st last year and her body has never been found.

Opening the case for the prosecution today, Elwen Evans QC told the jury that Bridger was seen putting April in his Land Rover.

She said: “It’s the defendant’s case that he admits that he drove her away. He admits that April is dead. He accepts that he killed her or probably killed her.

“He accepts that he must have got rid of her body.”

But Miss Evans said Bridger has not told police where the body is.

She said: “He says to us that he does not know, that he cannot remember.

“The prosecution case is this: That Mark Bridger abducted April. That he murdered her and that he went to enormous lengths to try to cover up what he had done.

“It’s our case that the defendant’s actions — abduction, murder, covering up what he has done — that his actions were sexually motivated.”

Miss Evans added: “He has played, we say, a cruel game in pretending not to know what he has done to her.

“It’s a game to try and save himself and try to manipulate his way out of his full responsibility in what he has done.”

Bridger, wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt and striped tie, sat staring ahead as he listened to the evidence.

A large snake tattoo could be seen on his left forearm and he wore headphones to help him hear the proceedings.

The disappearance of April, who had cerebral palsy, sparked a massive outpouring of support for her family, with hundreds of people joining the search.

Bridger, of Ceinws, denies abducting and murdering April, and unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.

- PA