The April Jones murder

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3005780/The-house-haunt-dying-day-harrowing-story-tragic-April-Jones-parents-book-bring-tears-eyes.html

I wonder if Mark Bridger was (sort of) related to April as stated originally in the media - i.e. uncle to her half-sisters.

From her father's statement in the book here, this is not correct.

Bridger was a few years older than me and had lived nearby when we’d first moved to Bryn-y-Gog. He had six children to numerous women, and had recently moved to the rented cottage in Ceinws, about five miles from Machynlleth. April knew of him, as Harley sometimes played with two of his children.

My copy has arrived and I look forward to reading it.

Freedom wrote:My copy has arrived and I look forward to reading it.

Let us know what you think of it.

Yes - please do.

Maybe if you have time you could type it out on here.

Perhaps a chapter every other day...

Only joking.

Would like to read it and now that I know it's out, I will go and get it at the w/e.

My friendly newsagent sold me the book a day early,some of it is written in diary form by her Daddy which i'm sure will be very sad.

There is 20p from the book going to Missing Children,that does'nt seem very much.

It's actually the Missing People charity - yes, the one with the infamous ambassador!

I've read as far as April going missing and the frantic hunt for her - something that every parent can relate to.

The hardest form of grief

• 9 hours ago
  
• From the section Magazine
  

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  

The parents of murdered five-year-old April Jones have written a book about her disappearance. They say this has helped them cope with their grief, but how can anyone deal with such emotion, ask Phil Williams and Justin Parkinson.
It's almost two-and-a-half years since April Jones went missing while playing outside her family home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales. Despite the biggest police search in British history, the five-year-old's body was never found. Mark Bridger, who had a collection of child abuse images on his computer, was found guilty of her murder.
When April went missing, her father Paul's reaction was to go on walks to escape a house filled with police, family and friends. "I found I was close to April, sitting on top of the hill looking down on the situation," he tells BBC Wales's Week In Week Out, "and I found I talked to her a little bit and it just eased the pressure for me."
Paul's wife Coral felt differently. "I just couldn't go out. I couldn't meet people," she says. "I didn't want to know anybody so I stayed most of my life [at home]. I still do some days now."
After April went missing, a police family liaison officer advised Paul to keep a diary of his thoughts. This forms part of a book, called April, by the Joneses, which is being published this month.

Paul and Coral Jones, pictured outside Mold Crown Court in May 2013
Some other parents of murdered children have done the same. Kevin Wells, father of Holly Wells, who with Jessica Chapman was killed by school caretaker Ian Huntley in 2002, wrote an account of what it was like to live through the disappearance, investigation and trial.
In the 1980s, Ann West, mother of Lesley Ann Downey, one of the victims of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, wrote a book recalling her ordeal in the 1960s. This included identifying the body and having to listen to recordings of her daughter pleading with Brady and Hindley to stop.
"Writing things down doesn't work for everyone, but it can be therapeutic," says Sandi Mann, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire. "You use the words as a record, helping you to chart your progress.
"Some people will want to keep what's written down to themselves, while others will want to talk in public or write books about their experience because they find it therapeutic. They will also want to keep the memory of their child alive."

• Take your time, when you feel ready talk to family, close friends or support groups.
  
• Get information about bereavement from books or support organisations.
  
• Try not to isolate yourself from others and try to find a way of telling others what you need.
  
• Don't feel pressurised into grieving in a particular way - we all do it differently.
  

Source: Child Bereavement UK

Child killings are rare. There were 67 victims of murder or manslaughter under the age of 16 in the UK in 2012-13. Of these, eight were killed by "a stranger", according to the Office for National Statistics. In Scotland, there were two victims under the age of 18, while none were recorded in Northern Ireland.
Partly because of the rarity of these crimes, parents can find themselves under the media spotlight. The cases can stay in the public mind for years. The names of James Bulger, Sarah Payne and Milly Dowler are arguably as well known as when they were first reported between 13 and 22 years ago.
Studies show that bereaved parents [url=http://www.redavies.talktalk.net/New_Folder/New understandings of parental grief JAN 46 5.pdf]grieve differently[/url], some indefinitely. Among the emotions experienced can be guilt at having been unable to protect their child.
Just after the death, the fact that a criminal investigation is going on can make the situation more complex, with police liaison officers, whose primary objective is to help the inquiry, and others looking for evidence.
"There is no fixed formula and no predictable timescale" for grieving, says Katie Koehler from Child Bereavement UK. "How an individual responds will depend on their developmental age and understanding, their prior experience of death and how those around them are responding in addition to the circumstances of the death."
Following April's murder, the Joneses have campaigned for child abuse images to be taken off the internet. They have met Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was killed by paedophile Roy Whiting in West Sussex in 2000. It emerged that Whiting had already been on the sex offenders' register for attacking another eight-year-old.
Sara began a campaign for "Sarah's Law", allowing concerned parents or grandparents to contact police to find out if an adult who has contact with a child has a history of sexual offences. The rule came into effect in England and Wales in 2011.
Several other parents of murdered children have set up projects in their name. Denise Fergus, the mother of James Bulger, the two-year-old abducted and murdered by two older boys in Liverpool in 1993, set up the James Bulger Memorial Trust in 2011. It provides holidays and other rewards to young people who have suffered bereavement or been the victims of crime, hatred or bullying, and their families. It makes the same offer to those who have shown "exemplary conduct" or made "a positive contribution" to others' lives.
"I know how much hurt and pain is caused through losing a child," says Denise, "and after a very dark time in my life I decided to try to do some good in my son's name." She adds that her aim is to "help other families and their children who have or are going through a tragic time in their lives".
Denise Fergus set up the James Bulger Memorial Trust in memory of her son
The 25-year-old London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh disappeared while apparently out at a viewing in 1986. No trace ever having been found, she was declared dead in 1993.
Her parents set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust a few months after her disappearance. It still provides advice and training on personal safety and how to deal with aggression and stalking. "One of the things I feel deeply is that if Suzy has died, or whatever terrible thing has happened, I don't want everything to be totally negative," Suzy's mother Diana, who died in 2011, once said.
Doreen Lawrence, mother of Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in a racially motivated attack in 1993, aged 18, started the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. It provides bursaries for aspiring architects and seeks to influence the justice system.
"One way a lot of people seem to try to cope is to look for something good to come out of the situation," says Sandi Mann. "They try to make a situation better or to prevent what happened to them from happening again. It's a sort of balancing of the trauma. It allows people to move forward, but not to forget."
In the US, the Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation group campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty. Bereaved parents are among those involved.
A 2008 study at Georgia State University found parents tended to recover better when they had a sense of "life purpose", adding that this was "unrelated" to the amount of time that had lapsed since the death.
But studies also suggest that parents who lose a child are more likely to suffer poor health, depression and marital break-ups.
Last October, Michael Payne, father of Sarah Payne, was found dead at his home in Maidstone, Kent. The 45-year-old had struggled with depression and alcoholism since his daughter's death and had separated from wife Sara in 2003.
In 2011 he had been jailed after admitting hitting his brother with a glass after heavy drinking. "The assorted aftermath had a life-changing effect on him and his then wife and his family," his lawyer said in court. "It's desperately sad."
Life after April: Week in Week out will be shown on BBC One Wales at 21:00 BST on Thursday 9 April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32151608

Brief comment,no mention of the fund,hmmm.

Just read on the mirror that Aprils dad has said paedophiles who seek help before committing a crime should be given a chance?
Ofcourse the mcs get a mention aswell.

dogs don't lie wrote:Just read on the mirror that Aprils dad has said paedophiles who seek help before committing a crime should be given a chance?
Ofcourse the mcs get a mention aswell.

Link in this tweet....


Lord Laffin @em ‏@veniviedivici · 1 hr1 hour ago
The Jones family joined Madeleine #McCann's parents Gerry and Kate to back the nationwide Child Rescue Alert http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11524206/Father-of-April-Jones-says-paedophiles-who-seek-help-deserve-a-chance.html …

I'm just hoping there won't be too many mentions of THEM in the book!

I certainly agree that anyone who seeks help before committing a crime deserves to be given a chance.

I don't think this link has been posted before.

http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/april-jones-trust-/183528

I've almost finished reading the book now and am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no mention of the McCanns.

The Joneses have talked of their meetings with the mothers of Sarah Payne and Tia Sharp.

The case of the McCanns could not be more different from the above three and it will be good if it is not given credence by being linked with them.

I have finished reading the book and can confirm that it is safe to read!

I hope that it has helped the family in some way to write about the dreadful events which overtook them. I don't think that I could have done so but we all react differently to crises.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/parents-april-jones-speak-suffering-9007791

I don't know if we have any members in Wales who were able to watch the programme mentioned.

I watched this (i'm not in Wales) it is on the BBC Wales website and is available for 11 months.

Sorry i cant do links but if you put "Life after April" in their searchbox it comes up.

I found it very sad and was in tears watching it i could'nt help comparing April's parents to the McCanns.

April's parents were on This Morning Yesterday and April's Mummy could barely speak,the grief is all too visible.

Thank you. Here's the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05q4170

I don't know people can cope when something like this happens, I really don't.

Is it just me or do other people feel that April Jones' parents are being used to their detriment.  I dread reading any interview about them in case the bl**dy McCanns are mentioned, but you can bet your life the bl**dy McCanns are mentioned every time.

I feel like writing to Mr & Mrs Jones to tell them do they realise they're being used to shield certain people and to promote a charity where most of the money raised goes towards paying the costs of highly paid staff, and little goes on actually searching for "missing people".

I wouldn't buy their book knowing that only a small  percentage of the money raised goes to Missing People, I wonder if the Jones' are aware of that or do they not read the internet nor any of their friends or people living near them to advise them, surely some of them must do, and because many people do not believe the McCanns' version of events on 3rd May 2007  and to have KM as their "ambassador" is even more mind boggling!  How would Mr & Mrs Jones feel if the McCanns are implicated in the disappearance of Madeleine, I wouldn't like to think what it would do to them.

I wonder if Mr & Mrs Jones have ever asked Missing People what percentage of people are actually found through their "searches", how many of those people found actually want to go home to their miserable lives they left in the first place, how much of the money they get in is actually used on "searches", how many people are actually helped when found if they don't want to go back to their original homes.

So many questions, but I bet Mr & Mrs Jones haven't asked one of them but are very happy to have a percentage of the sales of their book go to Missing People and to have their names linked with the McCanns who say their daughter was "abducted", but the whole world only has their sayso on that.

DFM. You have put into words what I have thought since learning this book was about to be published. I do feel the Jones family have been seen as a genuine family grieving the loss of their daughter. I just wonder what the motives of Missing People et al actually are. It just doesn't sit well with me at all. To be honest I am really surprised the Jones family decided to write a book in the first instance, as they seem to be quite a private couple. Just my opinion.

Thanks for your reply.

It does anger me that there doesn't seem to be any comeback on "Missing People", their motives don't sit well with me either.

I don't know why the Jones family chose to write a book as you say, it's not like they needed the money for a "search", to put their most emotive feelings into words I feel is a step too far.  We all have many hidden feelings due to lost family members, not as horrendous as the disappearance of April of course, but very close friends who have died over the years through tragic illness, people close to us who have died in car crashes not of their own fault but to put something so personal into writing I feel is not good especially for siblings and close family members.

The only people who have made anything out of this is Missing People, to me they seem like vultures preying on people's vulnerability, or even "bottom dwellers" would be a more appropriate description for them.

Admin, please can you correct my recent posts re April Jones to change the first line of the 3rd paragraph from -

a small percentage to

a percentage ......

There's my original post and 2 following. Thanks v, v, much.

Don't Forget Madeleine wrote:Admin, please can you correct my recent posts re April Jones to change the first line of the 3rd paragraph from -

a small percentage to

a percentage ......

There's my original post and 2 following.  Thanks v, v, much.

Done DFM.

Hi Candyfloss

You're not going to like me very much but I've made a boo boo, could you please change those 3 posts back to saying ..

a small percentage

I'm very sorry, I don't know why it sounded wrong to start with, I should have left it as it was.  I had other things on my mind at the time and I'm getting too old for juggling many balls in the air at the same time.

Ok done ..... again

'missing people' is literally a load of crap which is really bad and sad at the same time.

IMO - it was missing people who 'persuaded' a book needs to be written on this.

Wouldn't of happened otherwise.

The Jones were interviewed by Jeremy Vine on radio 2 yesterday lunchtime,very moving,Don't know if a pod cast of available.