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April Jones trial: Bone fragments from 'human skull' | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Bone fragments found in the fireplace of a man accused of killing five-year-old April Jones belonged to a human skull, a jury was told. | |
A bone analysis specialist compared one burnt fragment to that of a young child, Mold Crown Court heard. | |
Mark Bridger, 47, of Ceinws, Powys, denies abducting and murdering April, who went missing near her Machynlleth home on 1 October 2012. | Mark Bridger, 47, of Ceinws, Powys, denies abducting and murdering April, who went missing near her Machynlleth home on 1 October 2012. |
He claims he accidentally ran her over in his Land Rover. | |
The court has been told he did not know how he disposed of her body because he was suffering memory loss caused by alcohol and panic. | |
The prosecution claims he murdered April after abducting her while she was playing near her home on the Bryn-Y-Gog estate. | |
On Tuesday, forensic anthropologist Dr Julie Roberts explained that her role was to examine material recovered from the fireplace in the living room at Mr Bridger's home. | |
She said the five fragments recovered from the fire were subjected to a range of tests but not all fragments underwent every test partly because they were very small. | |
She said she was asked to consider three questions: | |
The fragments were all burnt bone, she concluded, and "four of the fragments can be assigned to the cranium and one we can't say one way or the other". | |
Giving evidence about fragment A, Dr Roberts said there were "several specific features" which led her to believe it was from a human skull. | |
She said skull characteristics included a "double-layered structure", the fragment's thickness and the appearance of spongy bone. There were features unique to a human skull, she said. | |
The fragment was compared to an archaeological specimen of a skull belonging to a child aged about four to eight years old. | |
Dr Roberts said: "I was confident that this was a piece of human cranial bone." | |
Fragment A was selected for DNA analysis but it was not possible to obtain a DNA profile from the sample because it was so badly burned, she said. | |
The court has previously heard that blood found in several locations around the defendant's house matched April's DNA. | |
The prosecution case is expected to conclude later with Mr Bridger's defence due to start on Wednesday. | |
April's disappearance sparked the biggest police search in UK history. She has never been found. | |
As well as abduction and murder, he also denies intending to pervert the course of justice. | |
The case continues. | The case continues. |