The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Five-year-old held inwelsh town
added. He said members of the media have also shown their “deeply caring” side and he thanked them for telling the story of the town.
“That story today is encapsulated in this service,” he said.
A young boy and girl carried a pink candle deemed “April’s candle” and the “Book ofHope” to the altar, which was then blessed by Reverend John.
The service ended with the hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful while a CD called Hope, which was compiled especially for April, was played as the congregation left the church.
April, who has cerebral palsy, was playing out late on her bicycle as a treat for a glowing school report when she disappeared on Monday evening.
Former lifeguard Mark Bridger, 46, was charged with the abduction and murder of April.
LocalmanBridger is also accused of perverting the course of justice and will appear before Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court today.
The five- year- old remains missing despite an intensive, ongoing search. Exhaustive efforts to find any sign of April continue
“It’s fair to say we’ll see a scaling back of the mountain rescue effort”
unabated. Superintendent Ian John said yesterday that, following the murder and abduction charge, the nature of the operation will change.
He said: “It’s fair to say we’ll see a scaling back of the mountain rescue effort.
“But a doubling of the effort really within the police element, we’ve got 10teams here today.
“If we don’t find April to- day we’ve got 18 teams coming tomorrowandcontinue that search with the same momentum that we’ve had since day one.”
Mayor of Machynlleth Gareth Jones said it had been an “extremely difficult” week and it was important to give support to those grieving.
“It’s extremely important there’s support in place for everybody, obviously April and her family and the general community at large as well,” Mr Jones said.
“There’s still hope for April.”
Simon Woodhead, from Mountain Rescue England and Wales, said search workers have stepped down
“We’ve now reached a point where we’ve exhausted the search of areas best suited to our skills given what we currently know,” MrWoodhead said. “The tasks now being generated are suited more to specially trained police teams.”