Sister of murdered April Jones 'still waiting to wake up from nightmare'

This article contains details of murder that some people may find distressing

The sister of April Jones, the five-year-old who was abducted and murdered from her hometown in 2012, is "still waiting to wake up from the nightmare" of her death.

Speaking about the trauma of losing April for the first time, Hazel Jones, 31, said it had "shaped her life" and she still could not come to terms with it.

April was playing on her pink bicycle with friends near her home in the quiet Welsh town of Machynlleth, Powys, when she was taken on 1 October 2012.

She got into a Land Rover owned by Mark Bridger, then 47, who was later convicted of abducting and murdering her in a "sexually motivated attack".

Despite enormous search efforts, April's body was never found - only fragments of her remains were found in Bridger's cottage.

"I never spoke out because at the end of the day that was our sister who had not only passed away but had been brutally murdered and kidnapped so what a process to have to go through," said Hazel.

Recalling the moment she was told her half-sister was missing, Hazel, who has the same dad as April, could not believe what she was hearing.

She was at home in Aberaeron when her mum broke the news to her: "I was just like 'what'. And she says it again: 'Hazel, April's missing'."

She then raced the 30 miles (48km) to Machynlleth to be with her dad Paul and the rest of her family.

"The next day came and then I think it fully sunk in... She's not just gone for a little wander, she's actually really missing.

"I just thought 'this doesn't happen around here and it wouldn't happen to us of all people'.

"And it did, and it was us, and it did happen."

April's disappearance sparked the biggest missing person search in UK police history, focusing on about 650 areas covering 60 sq km near her home town, involving hundreds of experts and thousands of members of the public.

Bridger, of Ceinws, Powys, claimed he accidentally ran April over near her home but could not recall where he had put her body.

But the trial revealed fragments of bone, consistent with a juvenile human skull, were found among ashes in his wood burner.

Despite Bridger's cottage having been extensively cleaned, blood was found near a number of knives, including one that was badly burned.

Bridger was described by those who knew him as "always confident, courteous and charming" but when police seized his computer, a sordid secret was revealed.

A library of child sex abuse images were discovered and evidence of search terms including "naked young five-year-old girls" as well as pictures of murder victims such as Soham victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

He also had Facebook pictures of local young girls, including April and her sisters.

Bridger - only the 37th person to be given a whole-life tariff - has stuck steadfastly to his story about not remembering where he put April's remains.

Then just 18 and heavily pregnant, Hazel described being "petrified" when she discovered what happened to her baby sister.

"I was so scared because I was carrying my daughter at the time and I was so scared to bring her into this world knowing that there was people like that on our doorstep.

"It really puts it into perspective that you can't trust anyone. I just couldn't get over how this could have happened."

Only a few weeks after April's disappearance, Hazel gave birth to her daughter Amelia - a moment supposed to be joyful was instead tangled in grief.

"It was so difficult because I had just lost my sister and just given birth. I was trying to mourn my sister but also love my new daughter.

"It was surreal because when dad and Coral came to see her in the hospital when she was first born, they were just shocked because she looked like April."

She said that resemblance made the grief even harder to bear.

Now a mum to Amelia 13, Ethan, 10, and Hefin, six, Hazel's anxiety has never gone away.

"She had only been on this earth for five years and I remember looking at her thinking 'you have not even experienced life yet', and that was taken away from April.

"I do want my daughter to see the world and have everything that April couldn't."

Hazel and April's father Paul Jones died on 14 May 2025 after being diagnosed with a brain disease in 2018.

"My dad was never right after April," Hazel said.

"Once April went, a part of him went completely and he never came back from that. All I think is that he is now back with April and back to a peaceful life.

"Him passing was just like a part of me went too. I fought for him for so long."

Hazel said she was honest with her children about April and has a box of memories and newspaper clippings for them to look at when they're ready.

"I have never hid it away from my kids and I won't hide it away. At the end of the day it's real life, it has happened and I want them to be wary of their own selves."

But the trauma cast a long shadow over her own children's future and Hazel said she is "terrified" about her children growing up.

"Is there anyone watching you? Is there anyone following you? The world we live in is literally so scary.

"After April I'm petrified to let my kids go out and grow up and start having their own lives.

"It's been 13 years now and it's still not actually sunk in. I don't know whether I don't want to believe it but I just don't believe it happened to us.

"I'm still waiting to wake up from this nightmare."