'Knock down Mark Bridger's cottage', say parents of murdered April Jones

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The parents of April Jones believe Mark Bridger's former home should “no longer exist”, the inquiry's senior officer said.

Mount Pleasant cottage in Ceinws is the only place where remains of April have been found.

Droplets of her blood were on the underside of a carpet and tiny pieces of bone fragment, thought to have originated from the five-year-old's skull, were discovered in the living room fire place and bathroom.

Mark Bridger has never disclosed what ordeal April was subjected to at Mount Pleasant - dubbed a house of horrors by the media - but Detective Superintendent Andy John, said the evidence pointed to unspeakable suffering for the schoolgirl.

He said the local community in Ceinws and nearby Machynlleth will now need to “debate” what happens to the property.

He added: “I know that the views of the family, on the basis of what we know is likely to have gone on there, are that they believe that the property should no longer exist.

“That is something that will need to be progressed now that the trial is concluded.”

According to a police statement given by Mark Ford, the owner of Mount Pleasant, which was read to Bridger's trial, the defendant moved into the property last August, five weeks before he snatched April, after agreeing a rent of £450 a month.

The jury also heard that as hundreds of volunteers were joining the search for the schoolgirl last October, he was scrubbing the property clean to remove all evidence of her presence.

But the first police officers who attended the scene immediately reported a strong smell of bleach and other cleaning products.

And detailed forensic searches by Crime Scene Investigators led to the discovery of several bone fragments, at least three of which were likely to have been from the skull of a human child.

On the underside of a freshly cleaned carpet were small pools of blood which had a DNA match with April.

The whitewashed cottage, set in spectacular countryside on the edge of a steep valley, has been under the control of Dyfed-Powys Police ever since.

Land Registry records showed Mr Ford bought the whitewashed cottage in March 2008 for around £149,000.

Dyfed-Powys Police said Mr Ford had declined to comment on the matter.

PA