One year on: April Jones will not be forgotten

The world's attention switched to Machynlleth in which the biggest missing person hunt in UK police history was launched. People from across the UK gave up their day-to-day lives to scour the mountainous terrain surrounding the town in the hope of finding her safe and well.

Sadly, April, who lived on the town's Bryn y Gog estate, had been abducted by paedophile and compulsive liar Mark Bridger and murdered, most probably at his Mount Pleasant cottage in the nearby village of Ceinws.

And although April's body has never been found, tiny bone fragments belonging to her and found in Bridger's home were recovered and buried last week at a funeral which once again brought the community out in force.

Parents Coral and Paul wore pink – April's favourite colour – to the funeral which was attended by about 300 mourners and they are now expected to light a candle or lantern outside their home this evening to mark the year-anniversary of her abduction.

While the funeral will allow the town to draw some sort of a line under the incident and move on – others say it is a scar which will never heal and has left the town synonymous with the tragedy.

Councillor Michael Williams, the town's county councillor, lives only 150 yards away from the Jones family home and urged the town to come together for the benefit of everyone.

He said: "It is now a year on from this terrible tragedy and the family were finally able to lay little April to rest last week.

"Machynlleth will never be as it was before October 1 last year but we have to move on in a gentle and emotional way for ourselves, for our children – because they are the future – and also for Mark Bridger's children and their mothers who have also suffered a traumatic year.

"I live not far away at all from little April's house and she was always on her bike which was covered in pink streamers and the like. She was a lovely and happy girl and it was always obvious she came from such a loving and caring home.

"People will never forget April nor this tragedy but we will work hard to heal the wounds while always keeping April in our hearts and mind forever.

"Life will go on. It was ever so quiet in town for a while following the tragedy but now businesses are starting to open up and you can see a little bit more life returning, but as long as we have April in our thoughts she will always be with us in that respect."

One business which has moved premises in the town since last October is the Loisin Lush sweet shop, which April used to buy treats from.

Owner Alyson Jones said: "The funeral coming so close to the 12 month anniversary has put a line down, but what we all have done over the last 12 months and will continue to do is stand by Paul and Coral and the family.

"I will spend some time reflecting on the last year and on what scars have been left on the town and it will never truly be the same again.

"It was amazing that so many people from not just the town, the county, but the whole country came to Machynlleth in that week last year and spent so much time away from their families to help look for little April.

"I am truly proud of this town and that is something that has come out of this whole terrible ordeal."

One of those people who came down on the wet night of October 1 to help with the search was Jill Humphreys, from Tywyn, Gwynydd, who returned to Machynlleth on the funeral day to lay a pink rose in the church grounds.

She said: "I remember vividly being sat looking at my computer and all of a sudden my Facebook timeline came alive with people saying a little girl had been snatched from outside her house in Machynlleth.

"I thought it wasn't far away so got straight in the car and came down to start looking."

The funeral itself was an emotional experience for everyone in the town last Thursday morning, many of who burst into tears at the sight of April's tiny white coffin being carried in a white wooden and glass horse-drawn hearse.

Sian Calban, a teacher at April's school and head teacher Gwenfair Glyn both read poems written by Machynlleth resident Jim Marshall to the congregation during the ceremony and Emeli Sande's hit single Read All About It played on a loop as people arrived and left the church.

Moving forward, at least three permanent tributes to April have already been set – including the sponsorship of a five-year-old girl in Uganda through St Peter's Church, which was the venue for the funeral.

Closer to home, a memorial garden in April's memory has been set up on the community green just yards from where she lived.

Items including a pink dolls house, pink flowers and cuddly toys are placed in the garden, while a wooden seat carrying a brass tag reading 'April's Bench' and a picnic table have been stand next to it.

Haulage firm Eddie Stobart also dedicated a lorry to April earlier this year, naming one of its new cabs April which was unveiled by Coral and Paul in Machynlleth in July – the idea of Kevin and Jenny Clarke, from Ford, near Shrewsbury, who helped in the search for April and became friends with Coral and Paul.

Meanwhile, Coral and Paul still live in hope that one day 47-year-old Bridger may come clean and finally reveal where April's body rests.

Police search experts said at the conclusion of Bridger's trial that he was an expert in the area's rugged terrain and knew areas which remain unmapped even today.

Bridger was found guilty of April's abduction, murder and perverting the course of justice following a four-week trial at Mold Crown Court in May.

He was given a whole life sentence.