THE high street bustles with smiling tourists and families enjoying the school holidays, blissfully unaware of the horror that took place in the town almost 13 years ago.
But very few who live in Machynlleth, Powys, are able to forget the abduction and murder of one of their own, five-year-old .
The girl’s murder still casts a shadow over the historic town darker than the rugged Cambrian Mountain range running along its eastern edges.
On the town’s neatly laid-out Bryn-y-Gog housing estate, from where April was snatched by her evil killer , most residents remain too traumatised to this day to even discuss the .
Most notably, April’s mother, Coral, who still lives at the semi-detached property that was once a happy, family home, is rarely seen on the estate now.
I hardly see Coral around nowadays. She has never stopped grieving
Coral Jones' neighbour
As well as losing her youngest daughter, Coral also had to remind her husband, Paul, of their daughter’s death as he lay in hospital in 2018, suffering with memory loss following a brain illness caused by a cold sore that developed as he trained for a triathlon.
For her, “the anguish never ends”;, one neighbour said when we revisited the town.
The local, who asked not to be named, added: “I hardly see Coral around nowadays. She has never stopped grieving.
“Because they never found April’s body, and because to tell the what he did with the poor girl’s body, Coral has never been able to get the closure she needs.”;
Bridger claimed he had run over the five-year-old and told cops he could not remember what he did with her body as he had been drinking heavily and panicked after putting her in his car.
But at his trial at Mold CrownCourton April 29, 2013, a forensic expert told the jury that fragments of human bone and blood matching April’s werefound in parts of his cottage, three miles away in Ceinws.
That DNA evidence was enough to convince the jury that April had suffered from injuries she could not have survived.
The cops called off the search for her body at the end of that month.
The neighbour added: “It is unspeakably cruel for Coral and her family not to have that closure.
“The very least that monster Bridger could do for April’s family now is provide that closure by revealing exactly where he hid her body, and – or – exactly what he did with it.”;
Few who were living in this tightly-knit town at the time of April’s murder felt able to discuss their feelings last week.
As one put it: “Least said, soonest mended, but it’s been nearly 13 years now and the memories are still as painful for us as they were back then.
“We are still a town in mourning. At least that’s how it feels. It’s as if we have some kind of collective trauma we can’t shake off.
“Machynlleth has always been a community-driven kind of town, and I guess that means we’re only ever as happy as the unhappiest person among us.”;
Local farmer, John Pughe, 79, said the brutal murder is etched on the town’s identity now.
He said: “The community was shocked to the core at the time of April’s disappearance and the hurt of her abduction and murder is still a raw wound.
“Yes, people here try to move on and get on with life again and I guess with time it will get a bit easier.
“But the worst thing is that they never found April’s body. No one is surequitewhat happened to her, and that’s meant there has never been a proper closure.
“I’m not surprised people don’t want to talk about it; it opens some very raw wounds.”;
On the surface everythinggoes on as normal – people go shopping, to the library, they serve fish and chips to the tourists – but underneath the trauma has not gone away
Rob Willislocal antique dealer
And Rob Willis, a 76-year-old antique dealer in the town throughout his adult life, said from his store on the high street: “It’s hard to talk about the lasting effect of the murder on people here.
“At the time, everyone was stunned. We just couldn’t believe what had happened in this close community.
“On the surface, everythinggoes on as normal – people go shopping, to the library, they serve fish and chips to the tourists – but underneath the trauma has not gone away.
“It was a long time ago now, but we cannot forget what happened.”;
A younger local resident, university student Jess, 21, said she was 10 when April was killed. “My mum was a youth worker – she was in charge of the local youth club – and she stayed up all night when April disappeared. She wanted to try and do anything she couldto help.
“She still gets upset about it today, it’s too horrible for her and so many others in the town to recallthe events of that time.
“Also, I was at school with one of Mark Bridger’s children. She was in the year above me. It’s such a close community here. We all knew each other. It reallywasn’t very nice.
“I remember hearing about it on the radio. It was just so hard to take it all in because you didn’t expect that sort of thing to happen out here in a place likeMachynlleth.
“As a 10-year-old, it was so frightening to think that someone could be taken off the street in broad daylight like that.
“Afterwards, we were all so careful and we really looked out for each other. It brought us all even closer together.
“Now I’m working here during my Easter holidays, but I’ll soon be going back to uni to continue with my biochemistrydegree. I guess we have to try to move on with our lives.”;
Another resident, a retired HGV lorry driver, who asked not to be named, said: “It was very traumaticat the time and I don’t think anyone has been able to completely move on.
“I have grandchildrenwho live on theBryn-y-Gog housing estate, and although no one forgets it, they don’t want to talk about it.
“Withouta body, it’s hard to properly put it to bed.
“What amazes me, if I tell people where I live, no one associatesmy townMachynlleth with the dreadful murder. They just know it as a tourist spot.”;
For Joy Jones, a Powys county councillor who represents neighbouring Newtown, the day of April’s disappearance “feels like yesterday”;.
Joy, a renowned anti-poverty champion in the county, was one of the first to be told of the abduction.
The 63-year-old told us: “I was informedshortly after April was reported missing by a friend in Machynlleth because they thought the vehiclewas heading towardsNewtown.
“We were all in a state of absolute shock. It especially affected all the young mums across Powys.
“The community found it hard to find closure on what happened to April.
“Iknow that people have said, you know, that because there was no real body found, that people don’t really know the full story.
“How did it happen? Mark Bridger hasnever confessed to what exactly happened.
“I think it leads to that feeling of frustration and I don’t think you ever can get over something like this.
“So there’s never closure because I think you left feeling very, very sad. There are still so many questions.
“And again, because it was somebody in your own community that did something like that, who you probably never suspected for one second that youwould have a reason to do something to hurt a little child.
“Yes, I think it’s hard for there to be closure.
“Our communities are very close around these parts and a vile murder from someone in your community like this affects everyone.”;
