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POLICE IN WALES have been granted a further 24 hours to question the only suspect in the April Jones’ murder investigation.
Local resident Mark Bridger was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the 5-year-old’s disappearance but he is now being questioned about her murder. A Welsh court today granted detectives a final extension for his detention this afternoon and police have until about 5pm tomorrow to charge or release him. He remains in custody in Aberystwyth.
The 46-year-old appeared before the court for 25 minutes, entering and leaving the building with a blue blanket over his head.
He was initially arrested on suspicion of abduction but the investigation was upgraded to murder today.
Speaking at the latest press briefing, Superintendent Ian John said that move, taken this morning, “was the right thing to do”. “It is essential for the integrity of the whole operation,” he added.
A lead figure in the inquiry, John said he is “completely overwhelmed” by the support received by local people, as well as those outside the community.
“Only a couple of hours ago two ladies from Newport turned up with bags of food and drink which they had bought with money collected from their community,” he said, citing one example. “All the pink ribbons and the balloons around the town show the impact of this tragic incident on everyone.”
He thanked volunteers who had taken days off work to help in the search, as well as their employers who facilitated the kindness.
John said the focus remains on “finding April and the search continues”.
Eight teams of more than 60 specialist officers are still out searching for signs of the young girl across mid-Wales. They are joined by about 150 members of the Mountain Rescue services, the fire and ambulance services, the Coast Guard, RNLI and RAF.
Special equipment, including boats with sonar equipment and helicopters with thermal imaging capabilities, have also been deployed.
The search will resume at first light tomorrow.
Police have again appealed for anyone who may have seen Bridger’s blue Land Rover Discovery jeep in recent days to contact them.
Readers in the UK can call 0300 2000 333 with any information.
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I hope the vile revolting bo**#$^%ks who took April rots in hell!
It’s obvious he must have told she is dead or they would not talk about murder, poor little girl! That family is going to be devastated but even though I know I will get loads of negative comments here , I would like to know with the amount of kids who go missing arround the world and uk, why do they give such importance to ones and other ones don’t even appear in the media.
In this part of the world thankfully its a rare occurence, thats why its big news
It’s obviously then that u don’t know about all kids missing, that is what I am talking about. There is a few pages in facebook where people post about kids missing and there is more than one, there is kids and teenagers missing every day arround england , scotland and ireland and the only place I see them is on a facebook page!! And I think them families have the same rights as the Jones
hey Mackie. I think the reason they upgraded the case to murder was only because they had to release or change him today so they had to rearrest him with murder rather than abduction. At least I hope that’s it. I’m still hoping and praying they’ll find that little beauty alive. And if it was him or whoever it was who took her, I say release him to the public and let them give him his just rewards. It’s horrific. Thinking of you little princess April. xxx
Olwyn, I’m thinking the same – and I hope you’re right.
Hi I think the emphasis is placed on kids who are abducted rather than ones who clear off. And more concern is felt for children of a younger age than those who are 14 or 15 and can return if they please.
It’s how the media works, they latch onto a story like this and it explodes, it’s not the Jone’s fault and who could blame them if they did use the media to their advantage with such a horrible thing happening to them.
Let’s hope, if a male is incarcerated for this crime, he is not jailed under Section 45 but allowed to take his chance within the broader prison population. What kind of a diseased mind causes people to abuse innocent children like this? Still hoping that this young girl is found safe and well.
Marist, I think we can all agree that yes we would like to see that.. fingers crossed whoever gets done for it, doesn’t get the cushy prison sentence that some of them do. As for Paddy, you must be a very strong character to not wish misfortune on the brute that could acrylic out this crime!
* carry out
I am hoping that this little girl is still alive and yet as each hour goes by it is getting to be less likely…..My prayers and thoughts are with Aprils mammy and daddy and her sister
And I am praying for the Police who are involved in the investigations and that they have the right person in custody
And if this man is the animal who took April last Monday evening I hope he gets his JUST rewards. This very sad and devastating story is a time when we should be asking should we have stricter penalties for the guilty.
Well said Bernadette.
Beautiful little princess. Such a cute little smile. Tell us where you are April. x
Mixed feelings about this. Either they have strong evidence or not. Let’s say that he had nothing to do with it, his life is ruined. Hope that there is big justification for keeping him longer an not a need of blaming somebody at whatever cost.
@Paddy Rodgers, will you please explain your comment on Marist, i think it needs explaining in case people get the impression that you are on the wrong side here.
Don’t know what Paddy’s problem is but he should come back and explain himself. As somebody mentioned above, the perpetrators of these vile crimes are always incarcerated with their own kind where, no doubt, they acquire some solace. Still hoping for that little girl.
I think he is of the an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind etc and of course he is saying that wishing for a criminal to be punished by being raped beaten and eventually murdered makes you no better than the person you wish to Punish, it’s kind of sick to will that on anyone anyways but hey I’m just filling in the blanks!
Spot on marist
Makes me sick reading this. You realise how messed up the world is sometimes.
first and foremost our thoughts should and must be with April and her. …Let justice work after…And let a little girl go home!!
Don’t give up hope on finding her alive. My heart goes out to her family and those searching for her.
I can’t believe the red thumbs.. Are these people just sick or do they actually support this kind of thing.
I hope their ip’s are recorded.
I hope that b*****d suffers so badly for what he may have done to that little girl I have a 6 yr old niece and if anyone lay a finger on her it wouldn’t be gd for them, please god give the parents strength to get the through this :(
I see Paddy Rogers hasn’t come back with an answer.
At this stage, Mr Bridger should be interviewed in a soundproofed dark room with a heavy lead pipe!
Clearly the police changed the status to murder for a reason.
If and it’s a big if, someone else did this, I’d gladly contribute to the compensation due to him but ffs time is slipping away here!
This case should be a warning to our society in Ireland, I’ve seen many notices on Facebook telling parents to beware of white vans or blue cars going around neighbourhoods approaching young kids, some countries have warning systems in place for this type of crime, should us Irish parents wait till it happens on our doorstep or one of our own harmed before we implement these systems to protect our kids,lets hope the little girl is alive and she’ll be found soon,
Nonsense just creating fear,
look at the facts, The vast majority of child abuse, murder and obductions are carried out by family members of someone the family knows such as uncles, aunts, friends, etc
If you look at the stats atleast for the UK anyway, children obductions have not increased since the 1970s, yet the fear of it has gone through insanely high,
So the risk isn’t higher but the 24/7/365 coverage of it has made people more afraid,
And in cases when it does happen as I said it is more often then not a person known to the family……. And not some random stranger in a white van or blue car like you suggest,
I wonder is he protecting someone else? Maybe she is alive but not near the vicinity by now but someone moved her somewhere else very quickly.. It was a thought that someone shared with me yesterday that maybe this man is part of some paedofile ring.. especially since the police & community are searching everywhere so meticulously.. of course they have probably thought of that too im sure..breaks my heart.. That poor little mite..
paeodp
My heart breaks a little more each time I read updates about this. And I am just a concerned member of the public, like so many others. How can we even begin to understand the pain her family must be feeling? Why do people do this. What vile kicks to they get out of snatching a child and harming her? She must be so frightened. If anything like this happened to my nephew I think I would break. Not to mention my sister. Thinking of all her family and community.
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