Day the tranquility of a tiny Welsh village was shattered

Residents in the village where Mark Bridger lived for the past month believe April Jones has never been there.

Police forensic teams are continuing their minute examination of the farmhouse where Mr Bridger has lived since early September.

Expert searchers with long batons were slowly and methodically walking in the garden and land around the house, prodding the ground, yesterday.

Outside, officers stood guard at the entrance to the property but activity appeared to be continuing inside.

The village of Ceinws is home to about 80 mostly-retired residents who have come in search of a “quiet life”.

That was shattered on Wednesday when the village was cordoned off and the farmhouse became the centre 
of renewed hopes of finding April.

With the road to the community reopened yesterday, residents spoke of how they are trying to come to terms with a new-found notoriety.

Vivian Williams Jones, 68, a long-time resident, said the farmhouse, called Mount Pleasant, had been empty for several years before Mr Bridger took it.

He said he knew Mr Bridger had moved to the house about one month ago because that was when the owner rented it out.

ANTONY STONE