EXCLUSIVE: ‘My girl’s coffin was filled with bits of bones after killer desecrated her little body’
Coral Jones is fighting for a change to the law after revealing only a few fragments of daughter April’s remains were ever recovered when warped Mark Bridger snatched her as she played outside her family home and killed her
Coral Jones – whose daughter April was murdered by warped Mark Bridger – demanding a change to the law(Image: Sunday Mirror)
The mum of tragic April Jones today told how the schoolgirl’s coffin was filled with a “few bits of bone” as the Government announced a fresh review of legislation about the desecration of bodies.
Coral, 54, revealed only a few fragments of her five-year-old daughter’s remains were never recovered after warped Mark Bridger snatched her as she played outside her family home and killed her. She has been campaigning with other grieving families for new laws to punish killers who desecrate the bodies of those whose lives they take.
And now, following an appeal, the Government has asked the Law Commission to review current legislation. Coral said: “By rights, by law, April is still missing. We don’t have a body. Inside her coffin were a few bits of bone – then it was filled with sand to make up the weight.
Little April Jones, five, was snatched by Mark Bridger as she played outside her home in Machynlleth, Powys, in October 2012(Image: PA)
Having the body means being able to say goodbye – instead of waking up and having nightmares thinking ‘where is she?’ It would be different. I don’t think I would be as bad as I am with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. All I know is that without a body there is no closure.
“These laws do need to be brought in – for families like ours. Yes, we have got graves and headstones but we haven’t had our proper farewells. Because we know, in our hearts, our loved one isn’t there.” April vanished while playing outside her home in Machynlleth, Powys, in October 2012. Bridger, 59, is serving a whole life sentence for her abduction and murder.
Coral has joined the fight for Helen’s Law Part 2: Stop the Desecration campaign. It was founded by Marie McCourt, 82, the mother of missing murder victim Helen McCourt, whose remains have never been found. In a Daily Mirror backed campaign, Marie – who has received an MBE for her services – fought for Helen’s Law which was established in 2020. It ensures that hiding a body is taken into account at parole hearings.
Mark Bridger, 59, is serving a whole life sentence for the abduction and murder of April Jones outside her home in 2012(Image: Daily Post Wales)
Last summer the group, which included the families of murder victims Sarah Everard and Mike O’Leary, met with Victims Minister, Alex Davies-Jones, at Westminster and begged for legislation. Mike was murdered in 2020 by his friend Andrew Jones in Carmarthenshire, who then burned his body.
The review by the Law Commission is scheduled to start later this year and take approximately two years. But, this week, in an emotional debate, the Welsh Senedd urged the Government to “ensure that legislation is prioritised and brought forward without delay” to “address a clear and continuing gap in our criminal justice system”.
Cefin Campbell led a Members Bill backing the campaign and urging Westminster to act. It was passed unanimously. He told the debating chamber: “Coral Jones lives every day with the knowledge of what was done to her daughter’s body after death – knowledge that continues to haunt her. It shapes her grief and damages her health. The offences that her daughter’s killer was convicted of do not reflect the true horror of what he did.
Mark Bridger (far right) leaves Mold Crown Court after he was given a whole life sentence for the abduction and murder of April Jones(Image: PA)
“While her daughter’s killer will never be released, others will be. And families should not be forced to live with this added cruelty – unrecognised and unnamed in law. The Law Commission is due to review this area. Families cannot wait. By supporting this motion in the Senedd today we can send a clear message that there is political will for reform and demonstrating the urgency and importance of this law to Westminster.
In a statement, Marie, of Billinge, Merseyside, said: “I have spent almost 40 years calling for change and feel enormous relief that lawmakers are finally listening. I just pray they take the necessary action and see this through. Knowing your loved one has been treated so appallingly is a torture like no other. It’s like living with a horror film playing on a never-ending loop inside your head with no off switch.”
Coral recalls how, on the night of her murder, April had been allowed to play out with friends as a treat following a good parents’ evening report. April had been born two months prematurely and, aged three, was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy down her left side.
April’s mum, Coral, said Bridger’s wicked crime robbed her of the chance to properly say goodbye to the schoolgirl(Image: PA)
Coral said: “It wasn’t as bad as people might think. Yes, she was in pain and sometimes we had to carry her home from school. But we’d give her some painkillers and she’d be off out again. She did what she could do. But she’d started speaking Welsh at school and her report was very good.”
This spring marks what would have been her daughter’s 19th birthday. Coral adds: “It’s hard seeing the friends she played with now – how tall they are, doing things like going to university and driving.” Poignantly, she adds: “Although time has passed it’s also stood still. In my head and in my heart she will always be five.”
Lesley Rees, 64, older sister of Mike O’Leary, said: “Mike was a very proud Welshman and it was so important that the Senedd supported this campaign. It’s been six years since our horror began but the pain for us all is as raw now as it was then. Our family supported Marie McCourt for years never imagining, in our worst nightmares, that we’d be joining her.
“There is a large emptiness in our hearts – made worse by the knowledge of knowing his body was treated in such a barbaric way after his life was taken. It’s taken such a huge toll on the family – particularly on our 88-year-old mother. Too many perpetrators are hiding or disposing of bodies to cover up evidence. In our case Mike’s killer was charged purely with murder – even though he admitted luring Mike to the scene, shooting him and then burning and disposing of his body.
“If he had been found ‘not guilty’ that day then he would have walked free – an unthinkable prospect. Desecrating a body needs to be acknowledged and punished.” Susan and Jeremy Everard, parents of Sarah Everard who was murdered by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens, said: “We are extremely pleased that the issue of corpse desecration is to be reviewed by the Law Commission and are hopeful that this will lead to new legislation which reflects the seriousness of the act of desecration and the terrible impact it has on families.”
In letters to campaigning families, Minister Alex Davies-Jones explained that the Law Commission will not only “consider whether an explicit offence of desecration of a corpse should be introduced in England and Wales but ‘explore potential gaps in the current law, including whether existing offences address behaviours such as a perpetrator’s refusal to disclose the location of a victim’s body, acts of dismemberment, mutilation or maiming, as well as sexual offences involving a corpse”.
And she said in a statement: “It is difficult enough to imagine the horror of finding out a loved one has been murdered but discovering that their body has been mutilated or maimed causes unspeakable and enduring agony to victims’ families. The desecration of a corpse is not currently a criminal offence in England and Wales and that’s why I’m pleased the Law Commission will take forward work to identify and address any gaps in this area, so perpetrators of such harrowing crimes can be effectively punished – helping bring some closure and healing to grieving families.
“I want to pay testament to the brave families of Michael O’Leary, Helen McCourt, Sarah Everard and April Jones who have campaigned so bravely for change in this area in the face of true adversity.” A spokesperson for the Law Commission said the work, due to start late this year, ‘will look at gaps and deficiencies in the criminal law, and consider what reform is needed to assure the dignity and respect of deceased bodies.’ He added: “We remain grateful to Marie McCourt for raising these important issues and engaging with us.”
