April jury told of accused’s interest in child porn

Mark Bridger, 47, who claimed to have served in the SAS but in fact had been an abattoir worker, murdered the five-year-old and played a “cruel game” in an attempt to cover his tracks, Mold Crown Court heard.

April vanished while playing on her bike near her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, on October 1 last year, sparking a huge search by police and locals. Her body has never been found.

The court heard investigators found numerous indecent images of children on the defendant’s laptop, including cartoon pornographic images depicting bound and gagged youngsters, as well as pictures of young girls who had been murdered such as Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman from the Soham murder case.

During the first day of the trial yesterday, the court heard Bridger also had images of April, who had cerebral palsy, and her half-sisters, aged 13 and 16.

Elwen Evans QC, prosecuting, said to the jury: “Why will you need to consider this sort of material?

“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 jury was told Bridger accepts he “killed her or probably killed” April in a car accident, but “blanked out” and cannot remember what he did with her body.

Bridger wept in court as a harrowing 999 call was played to the jury, in which April’s mother Coral could be heard pleading with the police for help to find her “kidnapped” daughter.

The 47-year-old, of Ceinws, denies abducting and murdering April, and unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.

The jury was shown a photo of the cottage where he lived – and where traces of April’s blood and DNA were found.

Miss Evans told the court Bridger had spent a lot of time outdoors, participating in what he called “bushcraft”, which had determined the scope of the police search.

He had claimed to have served in the Army and SAS but it was “a lie and a fantasy”, she said, and in fact he had been an abbatoir worker and more recently worked at a guest house.

The prosecutor said on the day she was abducted, April was “happy and smiling” when she was seen getting into Bridger’s Land Rover by an eyewitness.

“He drove her away and that was the last that anyone, apart from the defendant, saw of April.”

Miss Evans told the court Bridger claims he “cannot remember” what he did with her body.

“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.”

She said Bridger told police he ran over April in his Land Rover, put her in his car and drove her around the village while she was “dead or dying”.

“Thereafter he doesn’t know, he can’t remember what he did to April,” she added. “He can’t remember because of a combination of drink, adrenaline and raw panic.”

When police searched his house, he had carried out an “extensive clean up”, but failed to get rid of all the evidence, she said.

Traces of blood were found, which matched April’s DNA. There was a concentration around the wood burner in the living room along with a number of knives, including a boning knife which was badly burned, the jury heard.

Miss Evans said bone fragments consistent with being from a juvenile skull were found around the hearth.

The trial continues.