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| April Jones case: Mark Bridger cross-examination continues | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| The cross-examination of a man accused of murdering five-year-old April Jones and then spinning a "web of lies" to cover it up has resumed. | |
| 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. |
| On Wednesday, the prosecution claimed he had lied to police when questioned on suspicion of her murder. | |
| He has told Mold Crown Court he accidentally hit April with his car. | He has told Mold Crown Court he accidentally hit April with his car. |
| Her disappearance led to the biggest search in UK police history. She has never been found. | Her disappearance led to the biggest search in UK police history. She has never been found. |
| The prosecution claims Mr Bridger murdered April in a sexually motivated attack after abducting her as she played near her home on the Bryn-Y-Gog estate. | The prosecution claims Mr Bridger murdered April in a sexually motivated attack after abducting her as she played near her home on the Bryn-Y-Gog estate. |
| On Thursday, prosecutor Elwen Evans QC started by asking Mr Bridger to explain the difference between fabrication and lies. | |
| He said: "A fabrication was something to make up... to impress someone rather than to... deceive someone." | |
| Ms Evans, referring to his supposed army career, said: "Can we agree... for 23 years you put forward a fantasy? You put forward a fabrication?" | |
| Mr Bridger answered yes. | |
| 'Confused' | |
| Ms Evans continued: "When April, and I use a neutral term, went into your car, was she happy and smiling?" | |
| Mr Bridger said: "April was in my arms..." | |
| Ms Evans interrupted: "Was she she happy and smiling?" | |
| Mr Bridger: "No." | |
| Ms Evans: "And when (April's seven-year-old friend) says that she was happy and smiling, is (she) telling the truth?" | |
| Mr Bridger: "No." | |
| Later, he said: "I believe she's confused." | |
| Asked whether the girl was telling the truth, he replied: "No, she's lying." He added that he believed she had mixed the days up. | |
| Ms Evans went on to say "you will say anything that you think will help you" and would "tell any lie" if it would "save your skin". | |
| Mr Bridger said he thought the girl had "lied about what she saw and she's confused about other matters". | |
| He said the girl must have been frightened. | |
| Asked why she was frightened, he said: "She's just lost her friend" and seen her "disappear". | |
| Ms Evans asked him, with his "vast experience" of resuscitation, how long he had spent at local landmark the Monument which the jury has previously been told he drove to after the incident. | |
| He said: "This is different because I am under the influence of alcohol, I'm drunk, I'm frightened I'm panicking. I don't know." | |
| He was asked how long he had spent with April from the incident until he left town and passed Tuffins garage. | |
| "I can't guess that... I tried to help April," he replied. | |
| He added: "I have no clear recollection of actually leaving the Monument." | |
| Ms Evans told him he had no clear recollection because he knew the story he gave to the police was "complete nonsense". | |
| The court has heard Mr Bridger may have been confusing his movements on the night April disappeared with other days. | |
| He was asked whether there were any other occasions when he had a "dead or dying child in your car"? | |
| Mr Bridger: "No, which made it all the worse." | |
| Ms Evans: "Made what all the worse?" | |
| Mr Bridger: "The panic, the anxiety, the fright." | |
| He was questioned repeatedly about timings and, his voice cracking with emotion, responded: "This is irrelevant to what happened that night... that little girl died that night due to me." | |
| 'Felt sick' | |
| Later, he was asked when the "fog of not knowing" descended. | |
| Mr Bridger: "I believe it's when I leave the Monument." | |
| Questioned further on his movements and reaction, his voice cracked again as he said: "I have a dead child that I have killed in my car, how does that affect anyone?... I had pins and needles... I felt sick... with fright and with fear... this little girl had died, was dead in my car." | |
| Asked if the focus was on him, he replied: "The focus had always been on April... on little April." | |
| Mr Bridger began giving evidence in his defence in the trial on Wednesday. | Mr Bridger began giving evidence in his defence in the trial on Wednesday. |
| He was accused by prosecuting barrister Elwen Evans QC of telling a series of lies about his own life and the events of 1 October. | He was accused by prosecuting barrister Elwen Evans QC of telling a series of lies about his own life and the events of 1 October. |
| Earlier, during his defence, he told the court he had panicked after accidentally knocking April over and had tried to revive her. | Earlier, during his defence, he told the court he had panicked after accidentally knocking April over and had tried to revive her. |
| She had showed no signs of life, he told the the jury. | |
| He then drove around the Machynlleth area but could not remember how he disposed of her body after drinking heavily, he said. | He then drove around the Machynlleth area but could not remember how he disposed of her body after drinking heavily, he said. |
| Mr Bridger also denies intending to pervert the course of justice. | Mr Bridger also denies intending to pervert the course of justice. |
| The case continues. | The case continues. |