Deceased/Not Found UK - April Jones, 5, Machynlleth, Wales, 1 Oct 2012 #7 *M. Bridger guilty*

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Status
Not open for further replies.
Crazy Mama said:
How does anyone know what he told a priest?

I am still left confused. I do not doubt that he is guilty, the blood and mess in his house, but cannot believe they can convict without more evidence. Ho Hum.
Click to expand...

What else would you like - a video recording of him committing the crime?

The evidence in his house is more than enough. His own barrister conceded that the blood was April's. In his closing speech he told the jury they had to decide whether MB ran over her or murdered her. And that his client did not deserve sympathy.

May the dear little pet rest in peace. God bless the jury who got it right and Justice Griffith-Williams for the sentence.
Thoughts and prayers are with April's parents, grandparents and siblings. :rose:
 
Elainera said:
April Jones: Bridger 'Confessed' To Priest

Mark Bridger made a confession to a Catholic priest while on remand in Strangeways prison, it can be reported for the first time.

Bridger apparently confided in the prison chaplain, telling him he may have disposed of April Jones' body in a river.

Details of his cell-room confession emerged during legal argument in the trial but it was never heard by the jury.

The priest later told police about the admission, which was not made in a confessional.

Bridger's defence team admitted that he was "shocked" when he learned that the priest had spoken to police.

The prosecution decided not to include the confession as part of its case.

The River Dyfi, which runs through the edge of Machynlleth, was searched a number of times by police and no trace of April was ever found.

Police later played down the "confession", saying it was yet another of Bridger's stories.

http://www.964eagle.co.uk/news/uk-news/984026/april-jones-mark-bridger-confessed-to-priest/


Why did prosecution not include the confession in their case?
Click to expand...

Pros. didn't need it. They had more than enough just with the forensics. MB would have denied it in court anyway.
As we know he hasn't had enough humanity to properly own up to how he disposed of the little one. The last question asked of him by Ms Evans, the prosecutor - what had he done with April. Answer - more of the same amnesia lies. :twocents:
 
I think they did not include the confession in the case because a priest normally is bound to professional discretion...
And because MB apparently told police different location as to where her body could be, which were all false leads.
So they didn't put much credibility in this.

:moo:
 
italianWSfan said:
I think they did not include the confession in the case because a priest normally is bound to professional discretion...
And because MB apparently told police different location as to where her body could be, which were all false leads.
So they didn't put much credibility in this.

:moo:
Click to expand...

See quote posted by Elainera above - 'MB confided in the prison chaplain. It was not in the confessional'.
So it's not subject to the rules of confession. Priest/minister can disclose the information.

What you say too is true, he told police such a bunch of rubbish about how he might have put her here or there, would have covered her from the rain, or wouldn't have put her in a bin... and so on.
The Judge got him right - a pathological liar. :twocents:
 
Elainera said:
Like what?
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/30/april-jones-murder-final-hours


ETA: Just read this, a good summary of his life and answers a few questions we've had on here previously.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/30/mark-bridger-april-jones-killer-fantasy-life

He could be polite and charming; an entertaining talker who was popular with the men down the pub, attractive to women and apparently loving towards his children.

But behind the facade there was another Mark Bridger, a heavy drinker with a nasty temper and a violent streak, a man who felt he had failed to fulfil his potential and had woven a make-believe life around his mundane existence.

At first, his fantasies seem relatively harmless, if ludicrous. Bridger told anyone who would listen that he used to be in the SAS and had served as a mercenary in Africa and east Asia, his skills with a knife making him a deadly assassin. He even claimed he was licensed to carry a gun because he was on an IRA hit-list.

But as he approached middle age, his fantasies became darker and dangerous.

Bridger became obsessed by images of children being sexually abused, often sadistically. He was fixated with stories of girls who had been murdered by sex killers such as the Soham school caretaker Ian Huntley. And he began tracking the young girls and women of Machynlleth, in Powys, first via social networking sites, then in reality.
What is clear is that by the time he got to Mount Pleasant, Bridger had put together a library of images of child sexual abuse and pictures of girls who had been killed in notorious sex crimes.
When police raided his home the tape in his video player was paused at a brutal rape and murder scene from the slasher movie The Last House on the Left, the 2009 re-make of the banned 1970s film
Click to expand...
 
LegallyBrunette said:
What else would you like - a video recording of him committing the crime?

The evidence in his house is more than enough. His own barrister conceded that the blood was April's. In his closing speech he told the jury they had to decide whether MB ran over her or murdered her. And that his client did not deserve sympathy.

May the dear little pet rest in peace. God bless the jury who got it right and Justice Griffith-Williams for the sentence.
Thoughts and prayers are with April's parents, grandparents and siblings. :rose:
Click to expand...

Great post!!

I too am totally bemused that there are those who think there wasn't much evidence. On the contrary, the jury found 'overwhelming' evidence - hence them reaching a verdict so quickly. People have been convicted on far less than Bridger. It was slam dunk from the moment they picked him up and I never had a moment's doubt as to the verdict.
 
The bit in bold is something that never occurred to me, and I'm kicking myself because it now seems so obvious. It turns out that they weren't looking for Bridger until the morning, but it also explains why information such as his new address may have been slow in coming.

Crucially, the girl also told the officer that the brother and sister of another friend may have been in the vehicle the day before. She named the friend and the fact was recorded in the storm report – the police's running record of the investigation – at 8.27pm. It turned out to be vital.

The brother and sister referred to were two of Bridger's children, but his complicated family life meant it took hours for officers to work out the links.

John said the police investigation in the early stages was ironically hampered by the fact that so many people were out looking for April. People who may have been able to explain that the young witness was talking about Bridger's children were not in when police knocked on their doors.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/30/april-jones-murder-final-hours
 
LegallyBrunette said:
Pros. didn't need it. They had more than enough just with the forensics. MB would have denied it in court anyway.
Click to expand...

Also, if he had literally disposed of the body in a river, it would have cast doubt on the forensic evidence of bone being found in MB's cottage.

And I suspect there was a worry that some of the jury could have reacted negatively to a priest revealing this disclosure. Even though it was not technically a confession, many Catholics believe that information given to a priest in e.g. a counselling session, is actually bound by the seal of the confessional.
 
I for one never doubted that he was guilty of murder- after all he had admitted to 'causing' AJ's death. Glad the jury saw sense, I was at first worried by prosecution's lack of evidence, but the defence had nothing to offer in his defence Cost overall - 9 million! crazy!
 
Rutland Girl said:
I for one never doubted that he was guilty of murder- after all he had admitted to 'causing' AJ's death.
Click to expand...

I have to hold my hands up and say I wasn't convinced. I believed that the tangled web of family ties held some other explanation ie he wasn't alone in this. I also was beginning to think his defence was so pathetic, he had to be covering/telling lies to protect someone else. However, after what we didn't know that has come out today, I am in no doubt I was wrong. I just honestly did not think there was enough concrete evidence to convict him unanimously. The jury, I have every admiration for, they heard and saw the most harrowing evidence and images which will haunt them for some time. As for CJ and PJ, especially CJ, the dignity she has shown right through this is just unbelievable. Hard enough to lose a child, never mind in such horrific circumstances but I also know as a mum, the hardest is not knowing and no body to bury. Aside from memories all they have is a couple of charred bones to rest her. So tragically heartbreaking.
 
ann-other said:
I have to hold my hands up and say I wasn't convinced. I believed that the tangled web of family ties held some other explanation ie he wasn't alone in this. I also was beginning to think his defence was so pathetic, he had to be covering/telling lies to protect someone else. However, after what we didn't know that has come out today, I am in no doubt I was wrong. I just honestly did not think there was enough concrete evidence to convict him unanimously. The jury, I have every admiration for, they heard and saw the most harrowing evidence and images which will haunt them for some time. As for CJ and PJ, especially CJ, the dignity she has shown right through this is just unbelievable. Hard enough to lose a child, never mind in such horrific circumstances but I also know as a mum, the hardest is not knowing and no body to bury. Aside from memories all they have is a couple of charred bones to rest her. So tragically heartbreaking.
Click to expand...

My husband served on the jury for a murder trial, the victim is an adult, but he is still troubled by having seen her bloody blouse full of knife holes. Ugh.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 218 more.
Total: 2,889 (members: 219, guests: 2,670)

Online statistics

Members online
219
Guests online
2,670
Total visitors
2,889
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
599,621
Messages
18,097,519
Members
230,890
Latest member
1070
Back
Top