Hopes of finding missing Welsh five-year-old April Jones alive are fading after a man was charged with her murder at the weekend.
Mark Bridger, 46, was also charged with child abduction and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He has been in custody since Tuesday – a day after April went missing outside her home in the Welsh town of Machynlleth.
She was last seen by another child getting in to a grey van.
The girl's disappearance sparked a huge search effort with hundreds of local volunteers combing woods and fields. She still has not been found, but a prosecutor said there was enough evidence to charge Bridger with murder.
But April’s mother Coral Jones insists she is “not giving up hope” her little girl will be found alive. Her body has not yet been found.
Bridger is due to appear at Aberystwyth Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Today, the people of Machynlleth will gather in their hundreds and march in silence through their town in memory of the child they have lost, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
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