The jury in the murder trial of five-year-old April Jones on Thursday visits the home of the man accused of killing her, where traces of her DNA and fragments of a child’s bones were found.
Mark Bridger, 47, is on trial at Mold Crown Court in Wales accused of abducting and murdering April, who vanished from close to her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, on October 1 last year.
The jury’s nine women and three men will visit Bridger’s home in nearby Ceinws, along with Machynlleth and other sites relevant to Bridger’s trial.
They will be accompanied by the judge, lawyers from the prosecution and defence, and court officials.
The trial heard on Wednesday that blood matching April’s DNA and a child’s bone fragments were found at Bridger’s cottage.
The prosecution’s case is that Bridger, a former abattoir worker, abducted and murdered April in a sexually motivated attack.
He had viewed child pornography on the day of her disappearance, prosecutor Elwen Evans told the court on Wednesday.
His Land Rover was later seen on the estate where April lived, then returning to his home, and the following morning he was seen outside with a black bin bag, prosecutors say.
Bridger says he accidentally killed April, who had cerebral palsy, by running her over and cannot remember what he did with her body because of memory loss caused by alcohol and panic.
Prosecutors said Bridger told police: “I didn’t abduct her. I did my best to revive her. I panicked… I just wish I knew what I had done with her, where I have put her.”
April’s disappearance triggered one of Britain’s biggest-ever police searches, but her body has not been found.
April Jones jury to visit suspect's home
