THE case of former lifeguard Mark Leonard Bridger, who is charged with the murder of five-year-old April Jones, has been adjourned.
The case was due to start at Mold Crown Court yesterday but was adjourned at the request of the defence.
Bridger, 47, of Ceinwas, near Machynlleth, denies murdering April but has previously accepted he was probably responsible for her death.
At what should have been the start of a four-week trial yesterday before Mr Justice John Griffith-Williams, defence barrister Brendan Kelly, QC, applied for an adjournment so further inquiries could be made.
Details of the inquiries cannot be made public, but Mr Justice Griffith-Williams has presented the defence and prosecution teams with timetables and wants the case to be ready to go ahead on Monday, April 29.
The judge said: “I am very, very mindful of the terrible strain this case is causing April’s parents.”
Bridger was remanded in custody and the judge extended the custody time limits.
April disappeared while out playing on her bicycle near her home in Machynlleth on October 1 last year and her body has never been found.