April case jury hears of ‘mental block’

Mark Bridger, 47, also said he “never thought” of calling 999 after an incident in which he claims he ran her over, Mold Crown Court heard.

The jury in Bridger’s trial heard transcripts of his police interviews for a second day, read to the court by Paul Hobson, prosecuting, and interviewing officer detective constable Louise Thomas.

Ms Thomas was asking the defendant about events after five-year-old April was last seen playing near her home in Machynlleth, Powys, on the evening of October 1 last year.

Bridger says he accidentally killed the youngster when he ran her over and accepts that he must have got rid of her body but claims he cannot remember how it did it.

“I have been over and over and over again in my mind, what I’ve done and where I’ve been,” he said in his interview.

“I just have a mental block of what happened.”

He said he was crying and panicking, and thought: “What have I done? I’ve now killed a little girl.”

April, who had cerebral palsy, vanished while playing on her bike with her best friend.

Bridger denies abducting and murdering the schoolgirl in a “sexually motivated” attack. Her body has not been found.

During his fifth interview, Bridger was formally arrested on suspicion of the murder of April and for possession of child pornography.

After a break, he stated: “I didn’t murder the little girl, I didn’t murder her.

“It was an accident.”

He went on to say that indecent images found on his laptop were to investigate “body changes” experienced by his daughter and because he wanted to protest about the availability of child pornography on the internet.

The case continues.