Agencies/London


Coral Jones, the mother of missing school girl April Jones, cries at a news conference with April’s step-grandfather, Dai Smith, in Aberystwyth yesterday
The mother of the missing five-year-old girl April Jones made a heart-wrenching appeal for information about her daughter. Trying desperately to hold back her tears, Coral Jones, 40, said: “It’s been 36 hours since April was taken from us. There must be someone out there who knows where she is and can help the police find her.
“We are desperate for any news. April is only five years old.”
Her voice broke as she said: “Please, please, help find her.”
Jones then collapsed into tears and buried her head in her hands. She was flanked by the officer leading the inquiry, detective superintendent Reg Bevan, and April’s grandfather, Dai Smith, during the police press conference in Aberystwyth, mid-Wales.
Earlier police took the unusual step of releasing the name and a photograph of the man they have arrested on suspicion of her abduction.
The man arrested on Tuesday afternoon was named as 46-year-old Mark Leonard Bridger, who lives close to April’s family home in Machynlleth.
Bevan said police were continuing to question him about the disappearance of the girl, who has not been seen since she was apparently snatched as she played in the street with friends at about 7pm on Monday.
Bevan also produced an image of a Land Rover – registration L503 MEP – that has been seized by officers and is being examined.
Appealing for help from the public, Bevan said police were trying to piece together Bridger’s movements from 5pm on Monday until his arrest at 3.30pm on Tuesday. He confirmed that Bridger was arrested just north of the Dyfi bridge, around a mile from Machynlleth town centre. He was walking towards the town.
Bevan said the suspect was wearing a green camouflage jacket and black waterproof trousers over camouflage trousers. The Land Rover was found at a nearby repair garage.
The detective said: “We are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry, one of which is Mark Bridger.”
He asked people to look carefully at the images of Bridger and the vehicle and come forward if they had seen anything. “Please don’t assume that someone else has contacted us,” he added.
Extra officers and mountain rescue teams are being drafted in to search for April in a “methodical and systematic” search, police said earlier. Superintendent Ian John, the local police commander, said he hoped that as the day went on, more information would come from Bridger, who is known to April’s family.
John said: “I’m afraid to say I don’t have any news on April’s whereabouts but we continue to pursue the search areas.”
He said Machynlleth and the surrounding areas continued to be the main focus for the search.
Meanwhile Machynlleth residents said they were frustrated by a police plea that they should scale down their active involvement in the search for the girl because it might hamper the police operation. People in the town  said they joined the search because they were upset by the story relayed through the local press and via social media - including Twitter and Facebook. But superintendent Ian John said police were concerned about the safety of the public in what he called “very challenging conditions.”