April Jones’s funeral held as mourners dress in pink

A funeral for 5-year-old April Jones, who went missing almost a year ago and was later found murdered, has taken place in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, today.

April’s white coffin was taken from her family home to St Peter’s church in a white carriage with glass windows, drawn by two white horses wearing pink feather plumes.

Hundreds of mourners along with the rescue team that helped search for April, all dressed in pink, stood in silence lining the streets as some followed the procession to the church with members of April’s family.

April was abducted by 47-year-old paedophile Mark Bridger on October 1^st last year near her home. She was later found murdered by Bridger who was convicted of her murder and sentenced to a life term in prison after he refused to reveal where April’s body was.

Her family was denied a funeral until the inquest allowed a death certificate to be issued.

Just 17 tiny pieces of bone and fragments of her skull were recovered from the fireplace of Bridger’s cottage by the detectives investigating the case which has been considered the biggest search operation in British police history.

Today, reverend Kathleen Rogers told the congregation: “We know that there are no words we can say at this moment to express what we are feeling. No words can alleviate our sorrow or take away our pain. It’s a bittersweet moment. Our hopes and dreams have changed because April has been taken from us.”

The service also included a montage of photographs of April’s life as she grew up which was played on a flat screen TV in the church.

Following hymns and prayers two poems, April and An Autumn Night written by local poet Jim Marshall were also read by two teachers at her school. Her coffin was then carried from the church to the strains of Emeli Sande’s Read All About It.

The town’s vicar announced that any donations made at the service will be used to sponsor a five-year-old girl in a village in Uganda through the charity World Vision UK.

Aastha Gill