April search switches focus

There are currently 10 specialist teams searching for missing five-year-old April Jones, Dyfed-Powys Police said.

The search continues utilising teams from across the UK.The numbers of teams and officers searching increase and decrease to meet demand and requirements for specific search areas.

Currently we have 10 specialist teams searching Dyfi and Tanycoed forests. We will continue searching as long as we have viable lines of enquiry and it is unhelpful to speculate on how long that will take.

We are committed to doing all we can to bring the search operation to a successful conclusion. Dyfed-Powys Police is continuing to support April’s family and maintaining dialogue with the community to keep the area of Machynlleth updated.

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Dyfed Powys Police have said that although the search in Machynlleth centre is almost complete, there is still a lot to be done and that the search for April Jones continues:

Over the weekend the search for April Jones continues with teams carefully examining many different areas. The area in and around Machynlleth is large and we are continuing to put a huge level of resource into the search.

As time passes and we work through the detailed plan, we will of course conclude our searches in particular areas. Whilst we have almost completed the searches in the town centre area, outside this small vicinity there is still a lot to do.

The search continues at the same level of intensity that we have seen all last week. We have a number of areas and locations identified that require a detailed, methodical forensic search.

To give an idea of the scale of the search, the area searched last week alone would take one person 8.9years to complete on their own. We have expert teams from all over the UK assisting us, and this will continue whilst we have viable lines of enquiry to follow.

We are continuing to support April’s family at this difficult time with our specially trained officers and we are keeping them up to date on the search operation to find their daughter.

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Police have not put an end date on their search for April Jones and they still believe there is a "very good probability of finding her," Superintendent Ian John has told ITV News.

He also had praise for April's parents, Coral and Paul Jones, who he said were "conducting themselves extremely well".

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Members of the public have donated food, clothes and even fridges to the search effort for April Jones, according to Superintendent Ian John of Dyfed Powys Police.

It's really been very inspiring to see the people, who have delivered food, they've delivered clothes.

Some of the food that we had, we thought it would go off and so somebody delivered a whole load of fridges.

I've never seen anything like it and nobody that I've spoken to has seen anything even approaching this level of community spirit.

But it's not just Machynlleth, it's from all over the country.

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Dyfed Powys Police have said that the search of April Jones' home town of Machynlleth is almost complete.

Superintendent Ian John, who is leading the search, said that focus is now turning to the village of Ceinws where suspect Mark Bridger used to live. He said:

We've nearly completed our searches here [in Machynlleth] and we're now focusing our search operation today in the Ceinws area and for the rest of the weekend if we shouldn't find April today, throughout this weekend in and around the surrounding towns and villages.

He added that there has been an "influx of officers from other parts of the UK" to help with the search.

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Dyfed Powys Police have brought in diggers to help search for April Jones close to the last known residence of Mark Bridger, 46, Wales Online reports.

Mr Bridger was arrested on suspicion of April murder and abduction on Friday, October 5.

Superintendent Ian John said 90 out of 135 officers have been deployed to the village of Ceinws, around five miles north of where April was last seen. He added that the move was not based on any new intelligence.

The diggers are helping to search in open ground - "not in his house but close to it" - Supt John said.

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The Welsh national football team will wear pink ribbons during their World Cup qualifier against Scotland tonight in support of the ongoing search for April Jones, Wales Online reports.

The squad, including manager Chris Coleman, will wear the ribbons which have become emblematic after April's family asked people to wear them to show their support for the search.

Five-year-old April was last seen playing with friends near her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales on Monday October 1.

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