Browse content similar to 30/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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of murdering April Jones. The man described as a liar was found guilty | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
of abducting and murdering the five-year-old girl and intending to | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
pervert the course of justice. The court heard he lied to save his own | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
skin and that he had a sexual motive. April Jones's family have | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
welcomed the sentence and verdict but still don't know what has | :01:01. | :01:09. | |
happened to her body. We are relieved Mark Bridger has been found | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
guilty of our beautiful daughter April. April will be forever in our | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
hearts and we are moved from the overwhelming support from all | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
eastern the -- over the world. only person who can tell you exactly | :01:22. | :01:37. | |
The case lasted four-and-a-half weeks and 47-year-old Mark Bridger | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
has been found guilty of murdering April Jones in October last year. | :01:40. | :01:48. | |
The court heard details about traces of blood and bone in Mark Bridger's | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
home, but nobody apart from Bridger himself knows exactly how April died | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
and where her body is. April's parents have regularly attended | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
court during the last few weeks to listen to the case against Mark | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
Bridger. They listened to all the evidence in order to try to | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
understand what happened to their little girl. In the end, they were | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
not willing to do an interview but they did release a statement: | :02:13. | :02:20. | |
would like to thank our family and friends and the community of | :02:20. | :02:28. | |
Machynlleth. We did not know how we were going to get through the last | :02:28. | :02:35. | |
seven months since April was taken from us. For the police and Crown | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
prosecution service, the verdict closed a very sad chapter of the | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
months of investigations. It's very sad but I remember the bravery of | :02:46. | :03:04. | |
Coral and the family as they went April Jones disappeared. A | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
five-year-old girl who was playing outside just a stone's throw away | :03:08. | :03:15. | |
from her home. On that Monday afternoon, Mark Bridger had been at | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
this school for a parents evening. April's mother was here a bit | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
earlier. Later, after going home, April asked if she could go out and | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
play. Her parents refueled to begin with, but after -- refused to begin | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
with, but after she persisted they allowed it. Earlier the same | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
evening, April attended a swimming lesson at Bro Ddyfi Leisure Centre | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
in Machynlleth and these are the final pictures of her before she | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
returned home for tea. At around 7pm, April went outside to play with | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
her friends, the last person to see April, apart from Mark Bridger was | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
her seven-year-old friend who told the court she had seen April getting | :03:53. | :04:01. | |
into Bridger's car and that she was smiling. It was a big basis to the | :04:01. | :04:09. | |
investigation at the time. As the trial went on she was in a very | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
difficult position, never mind a seven-year-old child. | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
She responded to the pressure incredibly honest. Her evidence was | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
accurate and honest. In the court, the jury heard the emergency phone | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
call by Coral Jones at 7. 30pm that evening. She said, " My daughter has | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
been kidnapped. ." By now Coral could hardly breathe. The phone was | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
handed to a friend. " She's gone off in a car with somebody. : What's the | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
name of the child that's gone missing? April Jones.How old is | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
she? Five. However, as Coral made the phone call, Bridger's Land Rover | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
was caught on CCTV camera in a local garage. He was on his way out of | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
Machynlleth and heading home. As the news of April's disappearance | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
spread, the police, her parents and friends went from door to door | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
making inquiries. A couple of girls came around to my house to ask if I | :05:14. | :05:28. | |
had seen a young girl in a purple anorak. I hadn't seen her. It was | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
obvious then that hundreds of people were looking for her. As that first | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
night went on, the volunteers continued to arrive to help with the | :05:39. | :05:49. | |
search. That is what something like this does. You can just look around | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
at who is here tonight, so many different ages. We are all here to | :05:54. | :06:18. | |
used at the beginning of the search. There were appeals on YouTube and | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
Facebook and part of the search was coordinated with text messages and | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
Twitter. This page on Facebook shows appeals for help within hours of her | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
disappearance. No doubt Twitter and Facebook helped. It brought people | :06:34. | :06:44. | |
together right at the start. It was a big help at the start. | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
volunteers came from everywhere. Many local people were given the day | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
off by their employers in order to help with the search. Natural | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
leaders came to the fore to ensure there was some kind of organisation | :06:56. | :07:09. | |
as the whole community tried to find the little girl. Although we were | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
searching for a little girl who was missing, I don't think I've had such | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
a feeling before, everybody worked together. There were people who | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
didn't know each other, but we all worked as a team. It was a strange | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
feeling. At her school, staff, parents and pupils had been shaken | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
by the little girl's disappearance. Some of the children were among | :07:31. | :07:40. | |
those who saw April last before she disappeared. It hit us hard, the | :07:40. | :07:52. | |
staff, parents and the pupils. They're very shocked. The search | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
intensified as more volunteers turned up to help. Leaflets were | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
distributed and police decided to enlist the help of professional | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
search teams. It was the largest search of this kind in British | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
policing history. Some people saw Mark Bridger the morning after the | :08:08. | :08:22. | |
abduction. He said he had been looking for her. He went through the | :08:22. | :08:30. | |
line of searchers. He said he'd been looking this morning. At the time, | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
Bridger wasn't an official police suspect. During the search he was | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
filmed by a police helicopter camera walking his dog near his home in | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
Ceinws. During the hours that followed the police received | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
information which led them in Mark Bridger's discretion. We had | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
evidence from the child witnesses. We had information about the kind of | :08:54. | :09:03. | |
vehicle it was. It was a left-hand drive, which is quite unusual in the | :09:03. | :09:12. | |
Machynlleth area. We were investigating on the estate and the | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
investigation was leading us towards Mark Bridger. At 3pm on the Tuesday | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
afternoon the police went to his home to arrest him. The house was | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
locked and they had to enter by force. According to the detectives | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
who were there, the house was very warm and there was a strong smell of | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
cleaning products. Traces of blood were also discovered in the living | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
room and bathroom. Later the same day, Mark Bridger was arrested as he | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
walked down a main road near Machynlleth. According to the police | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
he immediately said he knew why he was being arrested and insisted it | :09:45. | :09:53. | |
was an accident and that he didn't know where April was. He was | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
emotional at the time. He's been emotional at different times | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
throughout the case. It depends what's being said and what's | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
happening. An arrest was made earlier today at 3. 30pm of a | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
46-year-old local man on suspicion of abduction. He remains in police | :10:13. | :10:20. | |
custody. He's at Aberystwyth police station. We will be interviewing him | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
this evening. While Bridger was being interviewed the search | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
continued. An appeal was made for information from anyone who had seen | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
him the previous evening, the night April disappeared. Mark Bridger's | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
Land Rover was central to the investigation. The morning after | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
April dice peered Mark Bridger brought his Land Rover Discovery to | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
this local garage in order to have work done on the engine. According | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
to one member of staff, he seemed very emotional as he talked about | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
all the searching for April. While in custody, Mark Bridger said he had | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
knocked April over accidentally with his Land Rover and that he had put | :10:58. | :11:04. | |
her in the car in order to go and find help. He said he had no memory | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
what have happened after that. At the end of the second day, April's | :11:09. | :11:15. | |
family decided to release a statement: " We are devastated and | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
our lives have stopped. Please, please, if you have our little girl, | :11:20. | :13:43. | |
Subtitles unavailable for 2 minutes | :11:20. | :13:43. | |
24 hours after April Jones went missing, a local man, Mark Bridger | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
was arrested in connection with her disappearance. Here in Machynlleth | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
there was still no sign of the little girl, despite the efforts to | :13:50. | :13:57. | |
find her. Concern was increasing and the search intensified. There's a | :13:57. | :14:03. | |
friend for little children above the at bright blue sky -- above the | :14:03. | :14:10. | |
bright blue sky, a friend whose love will never die. | :14:10. | :14:31. | |
the grace of God. The April Jones story was now appearing on TV | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
channels around the world and the media was trying to update the story | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
by the hour. Her mother appeared for the first time appealing for help to | :14:39. | :14:49. | |
find her daughter. It's been 34 hours since April was taken from us. | :14:49. | :14:56. | |
There must be somebody out there who knows where she is and can help the | :14:56. | :15:05. | |
police find her. We are desperate for any news. April is only five | :15:05. | :15:23. | |
years old. Please, please help find police concentrated on the river and | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
its banks, however there was also concern that her body had been | :15:26. | :15:36. | |
carried out to sea. The body of a young five-year-old girl, it had | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
been thrown into the river during the floods, there were serious | :15:39. | :15:51. | |
floods at the time. Within a day she would have been in the sea. There | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
was a small chance she would wash up somewhere. I remember years ago, a | :15:56. | :16:05. | |
little girl falling into a local river and her body was found in | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
North Wales. That's going back a few years, though. Pink ribbons could be | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
seen everywhere, in the school where April was a pupil, her mother asked | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
everyone to wear pink because it was her daughter's favourite colour. It | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
was a difficult time for the children and their parents. The | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
colour was a sign of hope that April would return to school savoury. | :16:27. | :16:35. | |
dealt with the children in a very sensitive way. My daughter came home | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
from school and obviously asked questions, but the staff at the | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
school kept them informed about what was going on. There wasn't a lot of | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
fuss, not a lot of crying. It was very matter of fact. I suppose | :16:55. | :17:02. | |
that's how a child's mind works. days after April's disappearance, | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
hundreds of local people marched through the town to show support for | :17:06. | :17:24. | |
take ton Aberystwyth Magistrates' Court where he received a hostile | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
welcome. He was charged with April Jones's murder, abducting a child | :17:30. | :17:38. | |
and intending to pervert the course of justice. The following evening, a | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
week after April's disappearance, hundreds of Chinese lanterns were | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
release into theed sky above the town of Machynlleth. The -- into the | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
sky above the town of Machynlleth. The community was still hoping to | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
find the little girl. But when the case against Mark | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Bridger started at Mold Crown Court, seven months after April Jones had | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
dice peered, despite all the searching, there was no sign of her. | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
Mark Bridger denied murdering her and said he killed her accidentally | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
after knocking her over in his Land Rover and then he put her in the | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
back of the Land Rover but had no memory of what happened then. Mark | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
Bridger moved from Surrey to Wales over 20 years ago. He worked in | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
several different places and had lived in a number of different | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
places, including Porthmadog, and ballament after settling in | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
Machynlleth he claimed he had been in the Army but admitted in court | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
that was a lie. One of Mark Bridger's former landlords, who | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
doesn't want to be named, was badly beaten by him. Mark Bridger received | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
a four-month suspended sentence for the assault. The man said that | :18:47. | :18:56. | |
Bridger was a violent man. He's a crafty, connive conniving so-and-so. | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
He knew with my arthritis I could hard hardly pick a cup up at that | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
time. He knew I was not in a good state. For some people who had known | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
him for years, what had happened came as a shock. I thought he was a | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
very tidy bloke, no problems. It surprised me when he left suddenly. | :19:25. | :19:34. | |
He was a very pleasant and natural person. He enjoyed a joke. I never | :19:34. | :19:43. | |
would have thought he could have done such a thing. I thought I knew | :19:43. | :19:54. | |
him. But obviously I didn't. He kept chickens in the house and things | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
like this. He was moved out of the house he was renting because of | :19:58. | :20:06. | |
that. He didn't stand out as anyone different. He was a hard worker. I | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
don't think he was ever out of work. However, a completely different | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
person was portrayed in court. Bridger had a sexual motive. His | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
relationship with his partner ended on the day that April disappeared. | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
He also had pornographic images of children and pictures of Soham | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman on his computer. | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
became very obvious early on he had illegal and indecent pornographic | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
images of children on his computer. They weren't the worst, but they | :20:39. | :20:49. | |
were pretty bad. By looking at that and what had happened in the hours | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
before the incident, it became obvious it was having an influence | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
on his behaviour. Emma Janes is a forensic psychologist who has worked | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
on a number of high profile cases. She spends much of her time working | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
in the field of child protection. The images on his computer are very | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
disturbing because there are images of local girls, girls that he knew. | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
They were actually part of April's family. They were images of April | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
herself. But there were also images of girls who had been victims of | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
rape and murder. So this tells me Mark Bridger is not only obsessed | :21:33. | :21:43. | |
with young girls. He is also -- he also has a penchant for dead girls. | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
About Bridger's defence that he can't remember what he did with | :21:46. | :21:54. | |
April? Defenders do sometimes Lee key components of their crimes, but | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
has that happened to Bridger? I would urge extreme caution in | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
believing a man who for 23 years has maintained he was in the military | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
and he's never been in the military. He is clearly a fantasist. It also | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
tells us he does remember that he ran April over. Throughout the | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
trial, the emphasis on forensic evidence was important. Traces of | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
blood at Bridger's home and no forensic traces of April on his Land | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
Rover. The evidence in the house is very important. It gave a direct | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
link because it proved she had been in the house. Her blood was found in | :22:36. | :22:47. | |
the house. It gave the team a chance to go to Mark Bridger and say, well, | :22:47. | :22:57. | |
she was in your house. We could ask him why he was saying something | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
else. The forensic evidence was very important. Mark Bridger had indecent | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
images of children on his computer but he had no history of sex | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
offences against children, which is unusual in a case like this. It's | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
now possible that the police will investigate again to ensure that | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
Bridger didn't commit sexual offences against children in the | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
past. There's nothing to say that he has committed other crimes, but | :23:21. | :23:32. | |
maybe he has. The police will have to collect the evidence. If we get | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
the chance to lock at another case, we will in the -- look at another | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
case, we will in the usual way. Although Mark Bridger is facing life | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
imprisonment for the murder of April Jones, her family don't know exactly | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
how she died and what happened to her body. I would like to take this | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
time to be with the family and try to come to terms with the loss of | :23:54. | :24:12. | |
to come to terms with the loss of hold your baby? And say goodbye? And | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
also, they've got no answers. What happens when you've got no answers | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
is you fill those gaps with your imagination and given what they've | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
had to listen to in court, the images they are seeing in court, I | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
can only imagine what must be running through their minds. No | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
parent should have to go through that, because it's torture. Back in | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
Machynlleth, it will take a long time for the community to come to | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
terms with what happened here on October 1 last year. Our priority | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
over the next few months is to concentrate on the staff and pupils | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
at the school as we look forward and at the school as we look forward and | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
at the school as we look forward and not back. But it won't be easy. We | :25:00. | :25:04. |