April Jones' dad dies without ever having found kidnapped schoolgirl's body

The father of murdered schoolgirl has died without ever having found his daughter's body.

Paul Jones, 55, tragically passed away from a brain disease he contracted in 2018, six years after April was abducted near the family home in Machynlleth, Wales, on 1 October 2012. The case sparked a vast search for the five-year-old and a personal appeal from then-Prime Minister . Hundreds of volunteers joined in to look for the youngster, along with various police and rescue teams, but April's body was never found. Police enquiries eventually led to the arrest of Mark Bridger, a 46-year-old local man who was later jailed for her abduction and murder.

Jazz Jones, the step-daughter of April's dad Paul, announced his tragic passing on Tuesday. She said: "It is with broken hearts that my brother and I wish to let people know our dad (Paul Jones) passed away early hours this morning. It was very unexpected and we are all in shock.

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"Harley and myself will update people with further information as we know more but please give us our privacy to mourn our loss."

Jazz, 29, told The Sun: "It’s only been 24 hours, it’s a lot to get our head around. As a family we’re heartbroken, but we’re still trying to process the fact that dad has passed away, so we’re not sharing any information on his death out of respect for him."

On the day of April's disappearance, the youngster had friends round for dinner and wanted to take one of them home on her bike. Her mum, Carol, said "no problem" and told her to "come straight back". But April never returned, and was instead seen getting into a vehicle near her home.

Bridger was arrested the day after April vanished, as he matched the description of the male that eyewitnesses said had spoken to April and drove away with her in his car. Police officially designated the case a murder inquiry on October 5, 2012 - despite no body being recovered.

April's sister Jazz previously told how she never wanted to know happened to April after she was abducted.

She said: "When you lose someone anyway, it's an emotional time but losing someone like this where you don't know what's happened, you haven't got anything to bury, you haven't got anything to say goodbye to, your entire just falls apart.

"At first I was really angry because I just wanted to say goodbye. But then, I got to the point when I was like, he's never gonna say anything so I don't know why I'm keeping my hopes up … there's no point in giving … my time or energy about it. It's just not worth it."