Deceased/Not Found UK - April Jones, 5, Machynlleth, Wales, 1 Oct 2012 #1 *M. Bridger guilty*

[Adorabella]

Maybe people did not really know him. Weh he moved into the area he told locals he had previously been in the armed forces, yet there is no record of him having served. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...spect-Mark-Bridger-was-weapons-collector.html

The minimum you can serve in the armed forces, as a rule, is 3 and a half years. However there is no way of a member of the public to check someone's service record or verify what they say. (How many of us have met drunken men in the pub who claim to be ex members of the SAS, for example...

The point I am labouring to make is that this is the single most worrying thing to me - MB lied about being in the forces. Apart from trying to appear to be something you're not, there is one clear reason why people do this - to hide your past, because no one can check. We can take comfort in the fact that the police will know all about MB by now - including any criminal record. They stated he was "known to the police" early on, as well.

All in all I hold out no hope for April, bless her heart.

I am wishing and hoping to be delighted and surprised to be wrong.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so fully and to explain your thoughts and to a very great extent, I agree with you. Do we know for sure that is what MB has said or is it what someone once surmised and mentioned to someone else in the village which then became fact? Again, we don't know that either.

It's clear that the police know something more than they are telling us, so you may be totally right about MB being known by the police for something that I can't bear to think about - as they really are going all out on naming him and using his whereabouts to track down April.

My only concern is what are they missing whilst being so single-minded in their approach, especially if he has had nothing to do with April's disappearance? Or what are they missing because of leads involving him that may be leading them on a wild goose-chase.

I'm pleased that the search has moved to the woods, too - that seems like a more obvious place to look as unless April was thrown into the river it seems that you would have to be very clever to hide her there without drowning yourself.

 

[jaldy80]

I can't believe how close they are letting the media get to such a potentially important search area. They are reporting from the very same spots that are being searched currently.

 

[Clutchbag]

Water cadaver dog being was being used earlier, and it's handler interviewed by Kay Burley.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Some of the UK media are reporting on her medical conditions as a new angle and something that was just discovered overnight last night, when in fact it was revealed on Tuesday morning.

Too many of them are going over and over the same things with nothing new to add really at all whilst others are covering a lot more different aspects of this.

Sorry for wasting your time posting info already known. I saw the date and time as being an article from earlier this morning and thought it was new information re: actual details of how having cerebral palsy might impact April's movements.

 

[opalsqueak63]

In what context was that actually used by the police or authorities?

Here is the context from the Guardian (National broadsheet UK paper in case you are not in UK: (It was also report on Sky news shortly after he was arrested)

"Detective superintendent Reg Bevan said they had been searching for the man since last night and knew that his vehicle matched the description of the one April was said to get into.

He said: "The man has come into the inquiry as a result of initial actions last night. He was on foot he was walking on the side of the road he was detained by our officers...we have recovered his vehicle."

Bevan indicated on Sky News the man was known to police, and suspicions had been raised very early on about his involvement. He said the 46 year old was a local man but would not be drawn on whether he was a known sex offender.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/oct/02/april-jones-missing-five-live?newsfeed=true

 

[natty01]

Adorabella: "If MB is such an obvious suspect then why didn't anyone think that of him before this event happened."

Maybe people did not really know him. Weh he moved into the area he told locals he had previously been in the armed forces, yet there is no record of him having served. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...spect-Mark-Bridger-was-weapons-collector.html

The minimum you can serve in the armed forces, as a rule, is 3 and a half years. However there is no way of a member of the public to check someone's service record or verify what they say. (How many of us have met drunken men in the pub who claim to be ex members of the SAS, for example...

The point I am labouring to make is that this is the single most worrying thing to me - MB lied about being in the forces. Apart from trying to appear to be something you're not, there is one clear reason why people do this - to hide your past, because no one can check. We can take comfort in the fact that the police will know all about MB by now - including any criminal record. They stated he was "known to the police" early on, as well.

All in all I hold out no hope for April, bless her heart.

I am wishing and hoping to be delighted and surprised to be wrong.

with regard to a past criminal record i think its likely that the press may have found one if there was one to be found . a local girl here left home with a chap she was 16 so not much was done but she disappeared at the same time as this local chap who had been posting suicidal stuff on his facebook so the police released a pic of him and her , straight away a national paper picked it up and printed that he was previously jailed for attempted child abduction , had previous history sexual offences against children etc etc oh and this same guy also spent 6 months telling girls he was a soldier in afghanistan .

she came home on sunday , i think she was gone for a month or so .

 

[Marilynilpa]

Water cadaver dog being was being used earlier, and it's handler interviewed by Kay Burley.

I found it interesting that the water cadaver dog not only searches for bodies, but also for articles of clothing, etc., and can work from a platform on a boat or from the shore.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I can't believe how close they are letting the media get to such a potentially important search area. They are reporting from the very same spots that are being searched currently.

I agree. It has been very interesting to get such an "inside" look at a missing child investigation.

Now if April could only be found . . .

 

[jaldy80]

Sorry for wasting your time posting info already known. I saw the date and time as being an article from earlier this morning and thought it was new information re: actual details of how having cerebral palsy might impact April's movements.

Not wasting my time and wasn't having a pop at you, just the media and their poor reporting.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I think we all know what happened to AJ and what the outcome will be.

I disagree that we all know what happened to April. While I agree that the worst possible outcome might be realized, I also wonder if MB had an accomplice to whom he gave April.

So although hope is fading, I still cling to the slight hope that April is still alive.

 

[nursebeeme]

15.20 The Plas Llwyngern hotel, where Mark Bridger had been working as an odd-job man, is being searched. It is currently being renovated and is closed to the public.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...ones-missing-five-year-old-in-Wales-live.html

http://www.plas-llwyngwern.co.uk/

iirc this is near the little village he had recently moved to?

 

[jaldy80]

Here is the context from the Guardian (National broadsheet UK paper in case you are not in UK: (It was also report on Sky news shortly after he was arrested)

"Detective superintendent Reg Bevan said they had been searching for the man since last night and knew that his vehicle matched the description of the one April was said to get into.

He said: "The man has come into the inquiry as a result of initial actions last night. He was on foot he was walking on the side of the road he was detained by our officers...we have recovered his vehicle."

Bevan indicated on Sky News the man was known to police, and suspicions had been raised very early on about his involvement. He said the 46 year old was a local man but would not be drawn on whether he was a known sex offender.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2012/oct/02/april-jones-missing-five-live?newsfeed=true

The way it comes across to me is that it doesn't have anything to do with any past involvement with the police, more that the Mark Bridger name and car type was given to them at the early stages of the enquiry.

I know that isn't necessarily the 'normal' definition of 'known to the police' in the UK but my recollection of that particular portion of the press conference gave me that impression.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Not wasting my time and wasn't having a pop at you, just the media and their poor reporting.

There does seem to be a lot of rehashing and not much real reporting nowadays, IMO.

I've enjoyed Sky News' live coverage, in the U.S. we don't see such in-depth coverage of an ongoing missing person's search and investigation.

 

[Clutchbag]

I found it interesting that the water cadaver dog not only searches for bodies, but also for articles of clothing, etc., and can work from a platform on a boat or from the shore.

They are amazing creatures. I havent seen the interview and cant find it on the sky website, since they changed it its really hard to find anything. I imagine they might use them in the properties as well and outdoor areas.

I dont know if this means anything but the mum has been driven somewhere by police.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hundreds-try-missing-April.html#ixzz28LHXBI87

 

[natty01]

aprils dad has a degenetarive eye disease , maybe something to do with not being present at press conference. he could also be careing for his kids.

 

[Inge Jones]

I dont know if this means anything but the mum has been driven somewhere by police.

That's what happened to Christine Bicknell just before the police did a complete sniffer dog search of their house, wasn't it?

 

[opalsqueak63]

Adorabella:

"Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so fully and to explain your thoughts and to a very great extent, I agree with you. Do we know for sure that is what MB has said or is it what someone once surmised and mentioned to someone else in the village which then became fact? Again, we don't know that either."

That is an excellent point. I agree entirely with your reply.

I just wanted to say that the term "known to the police" is a particular phrase that is often used in the UK. I would define it as: the person has previously been the subject of a police investigation, or has been arrested or cautioned or charged or convicted of a criminal offence.

It doesn't mean "known" in the broad sense, for example, if you called to report your house had been burgled, you would not be regarded as "known to police". Sorry if that's blatantly obvious, but the terminology might mean something different outside the UK. What is interesting here is how much info the police are releasing about a man who so far, has only been arrested. It makes you wonder, should he be charged, what the likelihood of a fair trial would be in legal terms.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Just heard on Sky News that April's father has a degenerative eye disease that prevents him from participating in the search for April. That may have already been reported, I haven't had a chance to read up on everything yet today.

ETA: Oops, I see this was posted already!

 

[Clutchbag]

That's what happened to Christine Bicknell just before the police did a complete sniffer dog search of their house, wasn't it?

I didnt follow that case much, but I was thinking perhaps they have found something needing identifying, we dont know, could be anything.

 

[Adorabella]

The way it comes across to me is that it doesn't have anything to do with any past involvement with the police, more that the Mark Bridger name and car type was given to them at the early stages of the enquiry.

That's exactly how I feel.

Obviously I know nothing at all apart from how I feel and even then my feelings are going back and forth about this BUT I am getting increasingly concerned that (from what we know) that the last few days events are all hinging on one thing: a 7 year old's (mis)description of a car and the fact that April allegedly got in the driver's side.

Did April even get in a car? Did she definitely get in the other side? Even if she did, does that make it a LH drive vehicle?

7 year olds lie (especially to keep themselves out of getting into trouble) and also get confused, so is their testimony enough to base an entire investigation on?

MB was not in hiding, even when the car they were looking for was made public. He was apparently seen also searching for April. If he was searching for her, then what he was wearing when apprehended would be entirely appropriate to the circumstances.

I just don't know what to think apart from I would also have a search party in the last place April was seen and question the last known person(s) to have seen her - who in most cases knows far more than they are letting on.