Hunt for missing April stepped up after mother’s tearful plea

The five-year-old’s mother Coral Jones made a heart-wrenching plea for help finding the little girl as she begged the public to come forward with any information over her disappearance.

Police said a huge operation was being mounted to search the market town of Machynlleth and the surrounding countryside.

More than 400 people made calls with information yesterday after detectives took the unusual step of naming arrested man Mark Bridger and releasing pictures of the former soldier and his blue Land Rover Discovery which was recovered from a repair garage.

Last night, it emerged he has young daughters living yards from where April was snatched, who regularly played with her.

In an emotional appeal yesterday, a sobbing Mrs Jones said: “It’s been 36 hours since April was taken from us. There must be someone out there who knows where she is and can help the police find her. We are desperate for any news.

“April is only five years old. Please, please, help find her.”

After her plea, she broke down in tears, holding her head in her hands, and was comforted by her stepfather.

Last night police said they were “in no way scaling back their operation” and remained “completely focused and committed” to finding the five-year-old.

Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan, of Dyfed Powys Police, said information about Mark Bridger and his vehicle 
remained important, but there were various other leads. He said they had interviewed the 46-year-old twice and were looking into his past to build up a profile.

Det Supt Bevan added: “While these are clearly a significant line of inquiry, I must emphasise that there are many other leads that we are actively pursuing in an effort to find April.”

Officers were focusing on 20 sites including houses, outbuildings, open areas and riverbanks around Machynlleth.

Superintendent Ian John said the search for April was “continuing to grow and grow at quite a pace”.

“This is a growing operation and in no way are we scaling back our search and we remain completely focused and committed to finding April,” he said.

The force has 100 mountain rescue volunteers, more than 
100 police-trained search 
officers, 20 dog handlers, 
two boats from the RNLI, a 
team of kayakers and the force’s marine unit taking part in the search.

Three UK experts have also been drafted in to help with the hunt.

Asked what he thought the likelihood is of finding April alive, Supt John said: “Our efforts are completely focused on doing that and we will continue to do that. I don’t want to speculate and put any kind of time limit on that.”

The focus of the interviews with Mr Bridger has been trying to find any information about where April is, Mr Bevan said.

The officer would not reveal what the 46-year-old had said to avoid jeopardising the search.

He said: “He has been interviewed twice. Clearly, our focus in those interviews, as it is in this whole inquiry, is to find April. That is primarily what we’ve been discussing with him.

“What I don’t want to do is compromise the investigation or any chance of finding April, so unfortunately I can’t divulge exactly what he’s told us so far.”

It emerged yesterday that the arrested man has two daughters living less than 200 yards from April’s home on the Bryn-y-Gog estate and two former partners who live there. April is known to have played with the two girls.

Police have appealed for information about his movements and the whereabouts of the four-wheel-drive between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon when he was arrested.

April went missing at around 7pm on Monday and was seen getting into a vehicle, apparently without a struggle.