April Jones search: Police chaplain 'There has simply got to be hope'
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http://www.walesonline.co.uk/2012/10/09/april-jones-search-police-chaplain-there-has-simply-got-to-be-hope-91466-32000982/#ixzz28pqih5CDThe specialist search teams hunting for missing Machynlleth schoolgirl April Jones have been told a “miracle” could happen and she could still be found alive.
Dyfed Powys Police chaplain Tom Evans sent a message of hope to the officers involved in the search for the five-year-old as well as to the wider community.
Mr Evans, who led a service for officers and search volunteers ahead of a procession for April in the town on Sunday, said: “There has simply got to be hope.
“You don’t know what has happened. A miracle could have happened and little April could still be alive and we need to keep that hope close to our hearts for the community of Machynlleth.
“The opposite to hope is despair and that is too much to contemplate. Nobody can afford to think about the prospect of not finding April.”
His comments come as the search for the Ysgol Gynradd Machynlleth pupil enters its ninth day today.
More: Leave your messages of support for April's family
Today, police teams continued to explore the Mid Wales town and surrounding countryside as well as the house of the man suspected of kidnapping and murdering the youngster.
In one of the searches, officers hunting for clues were seen combing through a field near Mark Bridger’s house. At the same time, forensic units in specialist body suits were gathering evidence from the 46-year-old’s rented cottage.
Teams of Dyfed-Powys Police and British Transport Police officers used rakes and spades to sift through the muddy ground in the village of Ceinws, where Bridger had been living for the past few weeks.
Around a dozen officers walked “methodically” across the swamped patch of land which borders the river Dyfi.
April Jones live updates: Search continues for missing five-year-old
Using bright yellow canes, they were seen prodding the land to check for evidence hidden underfoot and removed sewage covers to search underground.
One policeman did find a sodden piece of clothing but he discarded it after concluding the material had been in the field for months rather than days.
Earlier the same team – one of 18 operating in and around the Machynlleth area – were seen chopping down trees which lined the single track road on the edge of the field.
They were also tasked with investigating a bank of land left barren from a recent landslide. During that search, the officers were seen digging intently in the soft soil before the search was suspended and moved to the field.
Later in the day specialist police divers were exploring the bed of the river Dyfi.
Inflatable rafts were searching the stretch of water near to the Dyfi bridge which police had on Monday evening stopped motorists in the hope they recalled seeing something at the same time April disappeared exactly a week before.
Sniffer dogs were also deployed along the banks of the river some five miles west of Machynlleth in the direction of Dinas Maddwy.
Mr Evans, who will hold a second service for those still involved in the search on Sunday morning, said many officers are struggling to cope with the prospect of never finding April.
He said while they were determined to carry on, they were also missing their own families and as such were in need of emotional as well as logistical support.
“I have been speaking to officers all week and what they are going through is so tough but they are all coping because they have to,” he said.
“People forget that they are human beings too.
“All of the officers in this operation need support and we have done everything that we can to help them.
“Many of them have young children the same age and April and would really like to be with their families at this tragic time.
“But their professional pride has kept them going and we all have to recognise that.
“It has not just been officers from the Dyfed-Powys force who we have helped. The officers from around the country have worked just as hard, as have the volunteers.
“We had a team of officers who went back to London in tears because they hadn’t found April. It is hard to see officers leave so upset.
“This is a really emotional time and we just want to offer support. We have offered and will continue to offer spiritual help to those who need it.”
Mr Evans said the service he led on Sunday was arranged after the huge teams of police and mountain rescue searchers were disappointed to miss out on the procession held in the Powys town in support of the cause they had been so close to.
He said: “Sunday’s service was particularly poignant because the officers working tirelessly in Machynlleth have not had chance to mourn their two colleagues who were killed in Greater Manchester.
“So we took time to remember them as well as think about April.
“In the service, we concentrated on two key themes, hope and dignity. Hope because everybody needs it in their lives and dignity because that is what the officers have acted with ever since April went missing.
“Nobody really knows what they are going through and what they are thinking but every one of them needs help and needs to be commended.
“They want closure as much as anybody else. They are all desperate to find April and bring her back.”
Members of St Peter’s Church in Machynlleth, led by Reverend Kathleen Rogers, delivered food parcels to the police men and woman who had been working out of the town’s council headquarters Y Plas after moving out of the leisure centre.
Mr Evans added: “The congregation of St Peter’s Church have been an inspiration throughout, as have the the whole community of Machynlleth. They have really come together and can inspire us all.”
Inside Y Plas, volunteers set up make-shift kitchens out of collapsible tables and were busy peeling potatoes and preparing other vegetables ahead of making meals for the search teams.
Inside the building’s coffee shop, Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police, Jackie Roberts, had also left a letter of thanks to the volunteer searchers.
In it she said: “I know that you have been involved in extensive searches over protracted periods of time, during hours of darkness, treacherous weather conditions and on difficult terrain.
“Your commitment has been an inspiration to us all and I will always be very grateful for your selfless acts in our efforts to find April.
“April’s family and I have been overwhelmed by the reaction of you all and I am extremely proud to be your Chief Constable, we will always be indebted to you.”
Meanwhile, the man in charge of the leisure centre was yesterday assessing the toll of what had been an “unprecedented” operation – saying the building had taken a “bit of a pounding”.
Mick Haynes, the area manager for the centre, said: “It’s been like the eye of a storm with the world watching us, it’s been very hard on all the staff but they wouldn’t have done anything else.
“It’s a big leisure centre and we're normally very busy during the summer holidays but this was far more intense.
“If I’m honest the centre itself has taken a bit of pounding.
“We are looking to replace the carpets because of the contamination of all the mud and river water that's been dragged through. When you come in to it now it smells like a wet dog.
“We hoped we could clean them but that isn’t an option.”
Mr Haynes, who has helped with the search efforts during the past eight days, said many of his staff were still struggling to come to terms with the events.
“April used the centre, she was a member of the centre, she came in for swimming lessons the night she was taken,” he said.
“She was here having lessons at about 5pm so it was only two hours later that it happened.”
He added: “A lot of staff live on the estate so not only are they dealing with it when they come to work but they’re dealing with it at home as well.”
He also said he thought it would take a long time for the town to go back to normal.
“I would imagine, by how people have reacted and how they've been to all this, that they will find it hard to ever get back to normal.”
Bridger appeared at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court on Monday charged with the abduction and murder of April. He was also accused of perverting the course of justice by unlawfully disposing of her body.
Bridger, who wept as the charges were read out, did not enter a plea.
He will now appear via video link from a prison in Manchester before Caernarfon Crown Court today.
A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said the search of the field in Ceinws was just one of the searches being carried out.
She said: “We have 18 specialist search teams working in and around the Machynlleth area.
“The search continues for the foreseeable future and we are totally committed to finding April.”
It also emerged that the town’s tattoo parlour had received several requests for tattoos of pink ribbons – the image which has become a symbol of hope following a request from April’s mother.
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