The April Jones trial has started

[NorthernLurker]

The trial of Mark Bridger for the abduction and murder of April Jones plus some other charges has started today. From what I've read of the initial statements given by the prosecution, it's clearly going to be a very distressing case.
My thoughts are with all in court including the jury but most especially with April's parents who are in court. I don't know how they can bear it.

Oh I see - this is another attack of the 'it could never happen to me' syndrome isn't it. That's bullshit. Nobody can protect their children from every terrible thing. You can count the kicks and get the scans, you can buy the rearfacing car seat and put a net round the trampoline. You can do your first aid course and deal with choking. You can teach them to cross roads and you can get them their HPV jab and teach them red flags to look out for in relationships and you can help them and nurture them with everything in you and still there is factor X - the things you cannot plan for, cannot predict. Anybody who thinks that they can is beyond stupid. Anybody who extends this to blame parents for the terrible and unpredictable is beyond contempt. Seriously Kitty - think about this. Would you say that to April's mother? Do you even believe it's a fair thing to say?

I don't think it matters that she was with other children. Children cannot be responsible for each other and cannot protect each other from an adult.

I don't think it matters that she was with other children. Children cannot be responsible for each other and cannot protect each other from an adult.

I don't think it matters that she was with other children. Children cannot be responsible for each other and cannot protect each other from an adult.

I don't think it matters that she was with other children. Children cannot be responsible for each other and cannot protect each other from an adult.

No, the question does not need to be asked. It really, really doesn't.

Not if you have an ounce of sympathy or compassion.

I wouldn't allow MY child out after dark but I live in a busy and urban area. In a rural area with lots of other children playing out I might well allow it. It might well seem safe because the Mark Ridgers of this world are sadly rare.

Btw angers do you also blame rape victims if they wear short skirts? Same mentality...it wouldn't have happened if she'd worn a longer skirt. Do you see the link? Victim blaming is SO attractive.

crap. silly phone. That wasnt for effect.

thankfully NOT sadly

So do you all lock your kids up and never allow them anywhere? Risk is everywhere and it's a balance. It may well have seemed a small risk to them because they did not know Mark Bridger was a paedophile.

But let's blame the, and show no compassion, that'll learn em!

I think you are spot on Northern. I hope to God none in April's family comes across this thread.

Hiding this now as I can predict how it will go .

agree Northernlurker

I am hiding this thread now too. Hope to God it's not read by April's family ever.

Sme of your have no fucking compassion...all I can wish is that you do t experience the same lack compassion if anything (God forbid) should happen to you or yours.

Blame lies with ONE person here and that is Mark Bridger, a man whom April Jones KNEW and TRUSTED. She wasn't snatched by a faceless stranger but by a friend of the family.

My baby is awake so I must go.

Of course you can't lock them up forever but there are things you can do.

I would add to your list, northern, not to let them play out in the dark, unsupervised, aged 5, late in the evening.

I can't believe how this is thought of as ok.

I won't change how I feel about that. Too young, too late, too alone, too vulnerable.

@Jake you question my opinion then go on to say "I wouldn't allow MY child out after dark" rural or not you're right.. kids that young cannot fend for themselves At ALL, that includes scum such as Bridger, roads, rivers etc etc.... exactly the point I opened up with yet you chose to blast me for it then point out you wouldn't do it yourself..... rape victims? please tell me at what point I said it was Aprils fault?

I can't believe people are blaming the parents. FFS - you are blaming because you want to believe the parents could have changed what happened, when in reality this could have happened to anyone. Where April lived it's very normal for the children to play out. And MB knew her - so he could have targeted her another time in another situation.

You need to change your attitude.

James Bulger, his Mum turned her back for a second in a busy shopping Mall, her fault was it? Sara Payne, who was sent out with older siblings, her Mums fault was it? Holly and Jessica from Soham, the list is endless. FFS have some compassion.

Why the @? This isn't twitter. Why don't you go back there and drum up some support amongst various other knuckleheads.

I know that town and it never crossed my mind that she shouldn't have been playing out. It was a warm light autumn evening, its a beautiful quiet town in mid-wales, everyone knows everyone. She was with her older siblings. It is really quite different to the places where most of the UK population live.
I am praying that her body will be found and her parents can lay her to rest properly, at least then they will get a tiny smidge of comfort from knowing where she is and can visit her resting place. That is really all that matters.

Every parent has had, or will have at least one moment where their child is only ok because of luck rather than judgement, whether its taking your eyes off them for a few minutes, letting their hand slip away beside the road, losing them in a supermarket or a million other things that could be blamed on the parents.

Those who are judging Aprils family would do well to remember that, because we are all one lapse of judgement away from being villified by ignorant strangers on the internet who use others tragedies to make themselves feel good about their own parenting.

The only person to blame is the evil bastard who did this, no-one else.

'Every parent has had, or will have at least one moment where their child is only ok because of luck rather than judgement'

Well said.

He's been given a whole life tariff so will never get out. Good.

George Monbiot wrote a really good piece in the Guardian that talks about how Machynlleth has been affected and how it's the last place you would expect something so awful to happen.

From the article:
"I have never come across a town in Britain that is as child-centred as Machynlleth. The elderly people in particular seem to regard the entire population of children almost as if they were their own, doting on them, treating them, offering to babysit and help out. This cataclysm could not have afflicted a more unlikely place, or a place that would feel it more keenly. The entire town seems to have been struck by a family tragedy. There are people on April's estate who look as if they've aged 10 years since October. It's as if the lights have gone out from their faces."

I don't know Machynlleth but I am from a small town in north west Wales and it's similar there. Everyone knows each other at least by sight, people watch out for children, and children play in the street in the light evenings. A stranger would have been noticed, but crucially, April knew Mark Bridger. His daughter was in her class. To her he would have been X from school's daddy. It also wouldn't have been dark at the time - 1 October is a month before the clocks go back, it would still have been light.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/30/ukcrime-wales

I was about to quote from the same article.

'Already a sense of resilience and defiance is growing in the town. People are slowly emerging from the carapace of shock. And from the green on the estate comes the most beautiful sound on earth, the sound of healing: children playing. Their happy voices, ringing out once more, are the best memorial that little girl could have.'

God bless you little April.