By . Paul Harris . PUBLISHED: . 07:51 EST, 3 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:51 EST, 3 May 2013 . She had just thrown a tantrum, as little girls do, after her mother and father told her she couldn’t go out to play. But April Jones cried and kept asking to be allowed outside – so eventually they gave in. Less than 20 minutes later she was gone, driven into the darkness. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Upsetting: April Jones was shown on CCTV inside her local leisure centre after going swimming. The time shows almost 5.30pm and within two hours she had disappeared . Video: April is then seen heading through the doors after swimming with her sister and best friend - the last image that exists of the missing schoolgirl . Heartbroken: April Jones's parents Paul and . Coral (pictured today) had not wanted their daughter to go out to play . on the night she disappeared, the jury heard today . Trial: Mark Bridger arrives at court today, where he denies kidnapping and murder . Yesterday her mother relived the . heartbreaking moment she let her five-year-old daughter play on the . street that evening and never saw her again. Coral Jones said she and her husband . Paul had both told April it was too late to go outside on her bike. ‘She . kept on and on and had a little bit of a tantrum,’ Mrs Jones said. ‘We eventually gave in. I zipped up . her coat and she went off to play outside with her friend. I told her I . didn’t want her to be long. I think that was around 7pm. This was the . last time I saw her.’ Mrs Jones said that at about 7.20pm it was getting dark and colder, and she wanted April to come back inside. ‘I sent her brother out to get her in . and within a very short time he came running home in an hysterical . state. When I calmed him down he said April’s best friend said she had . got into a car with a man and she had gone. ‘I was frantically trying to find her. I searched around the estate everywhere I could think of. I even looked in bins.’ By that time, however, April was . already in the hands of her killer. The prosecution says Mark Bridger . murdered her after driving her off in his Land Rover. Yesterday the 47-year-old former . slaughterhouse worker – who claims he accidentally ran April over and . can’t remember what he did with her after bundling her into the . passenger seat – wept and bowed his head in the dock as the girl’s final . moments with her family emerged. Mrs Jones, 43, sat with her . 41-year-old husband in the public gallery of Mold Crown Court as their . written accounts of what happened that evening were read to a jury. Each wore a pink ribbon in April’s memory and occasionally held hands. Carole Jones said that her daughter April was a 'happy-go-lucky child' Sketch: Murder suspect Mark Bridger lowers his head in the dock, where he is using headphones to help him follow proceedings . Emotional: Parents Paul and Coral Jones at Mold Crown Court today, which heard they did not want their daughter to go out to play on the night she vanished . Their statements to police told how an ordinary day with their ‘happy-go-lucky little girl’ turned to tragedy. ‘April had been complaining of an . upset tummy that morning but she was fine,’ Mrs Jones said. ‘We had a . cwtch in bed – that’s Welsh for a hug or a cuddle.’ While Mr Jones made breakfast, she . dressed her daughter, tied her blonde hair in a plait and sent her off . to school with her father. After a day shopping, they picked her up from . school. ‘She was a bit grumpy because she was tired,’ Mrs Jones said. Images: The jury were show Mark Bridger leaving his house and walking his dog on the day after April Jones disappeared . Filmed: Bridger was first filmed as he left his cottage on October 2, before they zoomed on him walking down the hill from his home . Footage: A camera at the Tuffins garage spotted Bridger's car, which may have contained April at the time, the court heard . But she cheered up when they dropped . her off for a swimming lesson at the local leisure centre near their . home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, while they attended her school parents’ evening. When they brought her home, April ate . a whole plate of spaghetti on toast then watched her favourite film – . the Disney animation Tangled. Mr Jones said she was pleading to be allowed out to play with her seven-year-old best friend but they told her it was too late. ‘She had a little paddy and I suppose . we just gave in,’ he said. The couple said April knew about ‘stranger . danger’ and would never have got into a car with someone she didn’t . know. There were links between them and . Bridger, the court heard – Mrs Jones used to play darts in his local pub . – but they were never friends, she said. Mr Jones got to know him when . they dated sisters. Bridger was then about 32, he said. The sister was . 15. ‘I can’t think of any reason why Mark . Bridger would take April and hurt her,’ he said. ‘He’s a father too. I . cannot understand why he would do this to me.’ Bridger had previously tried to . befriend April’s teenage half-sister on Facebook, the court heard. But . the 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spoke to her . mother, who told her not to accept his request. Lounge: This is Mark Bridger's living room, where forensics found blood and bone fragments, a room which was shown to jurors today . Bathroom tiles: The green arrows denote where police say they found April's blood following Mark Bridger's arrest . Investigation: The prosecution also allege that April's DNA was discovered in the hallway of the cottage . Bathroom: Police says blood was found on the inside of the door of this washing machine . Visit: Jurors arrive by coach at the home of Mark Bridger, Mount Pleasant in Ceinws, Mid Wales, on the third day of his trial for the abduction and murder of April Jones. it is surrounded by trees, outbuildings and a river runs down its left side . The court has previously been told how Bridger collected photographs of the girl from the internet. They were saved on his computer along . with those of April, her other half-sisters and murder victims . including Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Bridger denies abduction, murder and perverting the course of justice. The trial continues. Additional reporting by Paul Bentley . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.
Footage showed to jury showed April skipping and smiling after a swim .
Mum Coral Jones told police she allowed April out at 7pm on October 1, 2012 .
'I told her I didn't want her to be long. This was the .
last time I saw her'
Less than two hours later April was allegedly taken and killed .
Suspect Mark Bridger, 47, was followed by police helicopter and filmed .
Former abattoir worker denies kidnap and murder .
By . Paul Harris . PUBLISHED: . 07:51 EST, 3 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:51 EST, 3 May 2013 . She had just thrown a tantrum, as little girls do, after her mother and father told her she couldn’t go out to play. But April Jones cried and kept asking to be allowed outside – so eventually they gave in. Less than 20 minutes later she was gone, driven into the darkness. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Upsetting: April Jones was shown on CCTV inside her local leisure centre after going swimming. The time shows almost 5.30pm and within two hours she had disappeared . Video: April is then seen heading through the doors after swimming with her sister and best friend - the last image that exists of the missing schoolgirl . Heartbroken: April Jones's parents Paul and . Coral (pictured today) had not wanted their daughter to go out to play . on the night she disappeared, the jury heard today . Trial: Mark Bridger arrives at court today, where he denies kidnapping and murder . Yesterday her mother relived the . heartbreaking moment she let her five-year-old daughter play on the . street that evening and never saw her again. Coral Jones said she and her husband . Paul had both told April it was too late to go outside on her bike. ‘She . kept on and on and had a little bit of a tantrum,’ Mrs Jones said. ‘We eventually gave in. I zipped up . her coat and she went off to play outside with her friend. I told her I . didn’t want her to be long. I think that was around 7pm. This was the . last time I saw her.’ Mrs Jones said that at about 7.20pm it was getting dark and colder, and she wanted April to come back inside. ‘I sent her brother out to get her in . and within a very short time he came running home in an hysterical . state. When I calmed him down he said April’s best friend said she had . got into a car with a man and she had gone. ‘I was frantically trying to find her. I searched around the estate everywhere I could think of. I even looked in bins.’ By that time, however, April was . already in the hands of her killer. The prosecution says Mark Bridger . murdered her after driving her off in his Land Rover. Yesterday the 47-year-old former . slaughterhouse worker – who claims he accidentally ran April over and . can’t remember what he did with her after bundling her into the . passenger seat – wept and bowed his head in the dock as the girl’s final . moments with her family emerged. Mrs Jones, 43, sat with her . 41-year-old husband in the public gallery of Mold Crown Court as their . written accounts of what happened that evening were read to a jury. Each wore a pink ribbon in April’s memory and occasionally held hands. Carole Jones said that her daughter April was a 'happy-go-lucky child' Sketch: Murder suspect Mark Bridger lowers his head in the dock, where he is using headphones to help him follow proceedings . Emotional: Parents Paul and Coral Jones at Mold Crown Court today, which heard they did not want their daughter to go out to play on the night she vanished . Their statements to police told how an ordinary day with their ‘happy-go-lucky little girl’ turned to tragedy. ‘April had been complaining of an . upset tummy that morning but she was fine,’ Mrs Jones said. ‘We had a . cwtch in bed – that’s Welsh for a hug or a cuddle.’ While Mr Jones made breakfast, she . dressed her daughter, tied her blonde hair in a plait and sent her off . to school with her father. After a day shopping, they picked her up from . school. ‘She was a bit grumpy because she was tired,’ Mrs Jones said. Images: The jury were show Mark Bridger leaving his house and walking his dog on the day after April Jones disappeared . Filmed: Bridger was first filmed as he left his cottage on October 2, before they zoomed on him walking down the hill from his home . Footage: A camera at the Tuffins garage spotted Bridger's car, which may have contained April at the time, the court heard . But she cheered up when they dropped . her off for a swimming lesson at the local leisure centre near their . home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, while they attended her school parents’ evening. When they brought her home, April ate . a whole plate of spaghetti on toast then watched her favourite film – . the Disney animation Tangled. Mr Jones said she was pleading to be allowed out to play with her seven-year-old best friend but they told her it was too late. ‘She had a little paddy and I suppose . we just gave in,’ he said. The couple said April knew about ‘stranger . danger’ and would never have got into a car with someone she didn’t . know. There were links between them and . Bridger, the court heard – Mrs Jones used to play darts in his local pub . – but they were never friends, she said. Mr Jones got to know him when . they dated sisters. Bridger was then about 32, he said. The sister was . 15. ‘I can’t think of any reason why Mark . Bridger would take April and hurt her,’ he said. ‘He’s a father too. I . cannot understand why he would do this to me.’ Bridger had previously tried to . befriend April’s teenage half-sister on Facebook, the court heard. But . the 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spoke to her . mother, who told her not to accept his request. Lounge: This is Mark Bridger's living room, where forensics found blood and bone fragments, a room which was shown to jurors today . Bathroom tiles: The green arrows denote where police say they found April's blood following Mark Bridger's arrest . Investigation: The prosecution also allege that April's DNA was discovered in the hallway of the cottage . Bathroom: Police says blood was found on the inside of the door of this washing machine . Visit: Jurors arrive by coach at the home of Mark Bridger, Mount Pleasant in Ceinws, Mid Wales, on the third day of his trial for the abduction and murder of April Jones. it is surrounded by trees, outbuildings and a river runs down its left side . The court has previously been told how Bridger collected photographs of the girl from the internet. They were saved on his computer along . with those of April, her other half-sisters and murder victims . including Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Bridger denies abduction, murder and perverting the course of justice. The trial continues. Additional reporting by Paul Bentley . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.
gave in. Less than 20 minutes later she was gone, The time shows almost 5.30pm and within two hours never saw her again. Coral Jones said she and her her friend. I told her I . didn’t want her to be long. I think that was around 7pm. This was the . last time I saw her.’ Mrs Jones said that at Mark Bridger . murdered her after driving her off her daughter April was a 'happy-go-lucky child' first filmed as he left his cottage on October 2, Mr Jones said she was pleading to be allowed out Bridger denies abduction, murder and perverting