Bridger: I could have burnt body

The former slaughterman accused of murdering schoolgirl April Jones told police that he "could have burnt the body", a court has been told.

Mark Bridger, 47, also said he would have been "lynched" if he had been seen taking the five-year-old out of his car, Mold Crown Court heard.

The jury in Bridger's trial were hearing transcripts of his police interviews for a third day, read to the court by Paul Hobson, prosecuting, and interviewing officer Detective Constable Louise Thomas.

Mr Hobson also read a statement from detention officer Stephen Carr who said Bridger spoke to him about how he was trying to remember what he had done with April's body.

Former abattoir worker Bridger says he accidentally killed the youngster when he ran her over and accepts that he must have got rid of her body but cannot remember how he did it due to the fact he was drunk and panicking.

Mr Carr said that Bridger told him how he would have "laid her to rest" for the body to be found and that he may have covered it with a tarpaulin sheet. Mr Carr said: "Then he went on to say that he could have burnt the body but with his firefighter training he informed me that burning flesh smells like pork. He said the flesh would smell and his clothing would smell and that he would remember having set a fire."

April, who had cerebral palsy, vanished while playing on her bike with her best friend near their homes on Machynlleth's Bryn-Y-Gog estate on October 1 last year. Bridger, from Ceinws, denies abducting and murdering the schoolgirl in a "sexually motivated" attack.

In another police interview Bridger was asked about traces of April's blood which had been found in his bathroom. He was asked: "Is that blood there because April was assaulted in the bathroom?" Bridger replied: "Not at all. Not that I recollect at all."

He was also asked if he had sexually assaulted April and replied: "I most certainly did not." He also denied using a "sharp implement or knife" on April. Asked by police if he had removed evidence from his car and house, Bridger said: "Not that I am aware of, no."

Bridger said he had "stuck by his story" and "I still stick by my story" before adding that he wished to apologise to April's parents. He said if he could remember where April was "in my heart of hearts I would tell you" so she could be laid to rest and so he could put an end to the "distasteful accusations" against him.