Deadline looming for April police

Oct 5 2012

Officers investigating the disappearance of April Jones have until this afternoon to question abduction suspect Mark Bridger.

They have until 5pm to charge or release Mr Bridger - unless they apply for a further warrant of detention.

With no sign of April since Monday evening, search teams worked through the night in the hunt for the five-year-old. Their efforts were spurred on by pink ribbons of hope, donned by hundreds of well-wishers in the close-knit community.

Police are holding Mr Bridger at Aberystwyth police station. They are trying to piece together his movements from 5pm on Monday until his arrest at 3.30pm on Tuesday.

April was seen willingly getting into what is believed to be a Land Rover Discovery on the Bryn-y-Gog estate where she lives at 7pm on Monday.

Mr Bridger, 46, from Machynlleth, drives a Land Rover Discovery which was seized from a local repair garage on Tuesday and fast-tracked for forensic examination. Expert search efforts have focused on a small farmhouse in the nearby village of Ceinws where he was known to be most recently living.

More than 2,500 calls with information have been received by police in response to their appeal on Wednesday.

Residents across the small Mid Wales town of Machynlleth wore the pink ribbons in a symbolic gesture of continued hope. The show of solidarity came in response to a plea from April's mother, Coral Jones, to wear her daughter's favourite colour.

As the family's nightmare continues, residents decorated their cars, homes and clothes with the pink ribbons. Machynlleth Mayor Gareth Jones said: "It is a symbol of the hope that April is going to come back and we are all still optimistic."

Prime Minister David Cameron added his voice to the chorus of appeals for anyone with the smallest piece of information to come forward. He described the ongoing ordeal as "every family's nightmare" and urged people to "talk to the police".