April Jones: Missing girl 'played in suspect's car two days before she went missing', claims neighbour

By Daily Mail Reporter


Mark Bridger is well known to April Jones and her family - and she had even played in his car two days before she was allegedly kidnapped, it has been revealed.
Bridger, 46, has been arrested and is being held in connection with the disappearance of the five-year-old from near her home in Machynlleth, north Wales.
Neighbours have told how Mr Bridger, 46, had offered five-year-old April and her friends a chance to play in his Land Rover. He is well-known to adults and children on the Brynygog estate where April lives, as he has an ex-wife and three former partners living in the area.

Suspect: Mark Bridger 46, has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of April Jones, five, who was last seen getting into a vehicle at 7pm on Monday night

One neighbour said April had been playing in Bridger's vehicle less than two days before she went missing, saying that April and other children would have happily done so because Bridger is father to two children in her street - and is a familiar face in his Land Rover as he regularly visits his own son and daughter.
The neighbour, identified by the Daily Telegraph as Amy Fenner, 21, said: 'It's not the first time they have been in his vehicle. They had got into the van two days before the abduction.'
April is a regular playmate of Bridger's children, and they had been on the green outside their homes with her just hours before she disappeared.

Impounded: In this handout image supplied by Dyfed Powys Police, a blue Land Rover Discovery belonging to Mark Leonard Bridger is pictured following his arrest

Press conference: Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan holds pictures of Bridger and his vehicle at a media conference. He confirmed the 46-year-old was being questioned at Aberysytwyth Police Station

A former lifeguard and ex-soldier, Bridger had split from his wife Elaine Daffyd - but often returned to the Brynygog estate in Machynlleth to visit his children.
He has a further four children from other relationships.
Bridger is familiar with the spots where the local children - including his own - gather after school.
Former abbatoir worker Bridger is still in touch with Ms Dafydd, who lives just yards away from April's home. Ms Dafydd has now remarried and has children with her new partner - including a little girl who was with April when Bridger allegedly made his first approach.
Miss Fenner told the Telegraph: 'April was playing with her friends and it has come out that they have been in the van before. He drove them down the road from the estate and chatted with them.'
Mr Bridger, who was brought up in Surrey to parents Pamela and Graham who now live near the Sussex coast, he has an older sister and younger brother who still live in the Surrey area.

Distraught plea: Coral Jones, the mother of missing school girl April Jones, breaks down as she attends at a news conference with April's step-grandfather, Dai Smith, in Aberystwyth

'There must be someone out there who knows where she is': Mrs Jones made an emotional appeal to anyone with information about April's whereabouts, urging them to come forward