April Jones’s father ‘forgot’ her murder following illness

♦ April Jones’s father learned of his daughter’s murder for a second time after suffering a virus that damaged his memory.

Paul Jones, 49, asked why his daughter had not been to see him as he recovered from a severe case of encephalitis, a potentially lethal brain condition.

April’s mother, Coral, said her husband had recognised the youngster in family photographs used to jog his memory.

“He asked: ‘What happened to April?’ I had to tell him that she’d been killed,” she said. “He broke down. It was an awful conversation. It was like reliving it all over again.”

Mr Jones reportedly fell ill 18 months ago and spent more than a year in hospital recovering. The infection and resulting brain swelling led to the loss of memory for most of the past decade.

April, five, was snatched from outside her home in Machynlleth, mid Wales, on Oct 1 2012 before being murdered by Mark Bridger, a paedophile.