15 hours ago
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Charlie BucklandBBC Wales
Hazel Jones/SWNS
April Jones, pictured here with her sister Hazel, was five years old when she was abducted and murdered in October 2012 in a case that shocked the UK
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 for the first time, Hazel Jones, 31, said the trauma of losing April had "shaped her life" and she still cannot 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.
SWNS
April Jones' sister, Hazel, now a mother of three, says the trauma of April's death has cast a shadow over her children's lives
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."
PA Media
Five-year-old April's remains have never been found
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.
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.
Dyfed-Powys Police
The judge branded Mark Bridger a "pathological liar" and "a paedophile"
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."
Getty Images
Floral tributes were left outside the home of Bridger, where fragments of juvenile human skull were found in the wood burner
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."
Getty Images
April's father Paul Jones, pictured here with her mum Coral in 2013, died in 2025 without ever knowing what happened to his daughter
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."
Getty Images
Hundreds of people walked together for a service with prayers while searching for April on 7 October 2012
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.
SWNS
Hazel says she is "terrified" to let her own children grow up as the "world we live in is so scary"
"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."
