Mark Bridger has appeared in court looking emotional as he faced charges of abducting and murdering five-year-old April Jones.

The 46-year-old stood in the dock at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court where the charges were put to him.

As well as abducting and murdering April, Bridger is charged with the unlawful disposal and concealment of her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Bridger was tearful as he spoke to confirm his name, age and address. He also confirmed he understood the charges.

At the end of the hearing Betty Griffiths, the chairman of magistrates, told Bridger he would be remanded in custody and would next appear at Caernarfon Crown Court on Wednesday.

John Hedgecoe was defending Bridger. Iwan Jenkins, district crown prosecutor, was prosecuting. Neither were called upon to speak during the brief hearing.

Also sitting at the rear of the court was Superintendent Ian John, who has led the search for April.

Afterwards he returned to Machynlleth to continue co-ordinating the on-going operation to find her.

It is now a week since she was seen playing near her home in Machynlleth before she got into a vehicle.

Hundreds gathered in the town yesterday for a silent march, followed by a special church service in remembrance of the youngster.

In a Facebook post this weekend, her mum Coral, 40, wrote: “April has still not been found, I am not giving up hope that she will come home, so please keep looking for my baby girl April, she’s our world, the whole family are in bits as we don’t know where she is.”

From today, mountain rescue volunteers are scaling back their efforts because the work ahead is more suited to specialist police search teams.

Over the past seven days, mountain rescue teams have scoured 70 sq km of remote terrain, to no avail.

The number of police search teams will double from 10 to 18 as more officers are drafted in this week, and military assistance will remain for as long as police need them.

“We’ll do what we’re good at which is the wilderness and rural areas,” Warrant Officer John Roe, from RAF Mountain Rescue, told Sky News.

“The police specialists are excellent in the urban areas and searching closer to people’s homes and things like that. We’re good at sustaining and keeping ourselves in the outdoor environments.

The searchers have made the town’s leisure centre their base.

Although local volunteers were stood down last week, people in the close-knit community are continuing to help where they can.

Sue Winchurch and her family, who live seven miles from the town, travelled to the leisure centre yesterday to drop off food for the searchers.

“It’s been my son’s birthday and we’ve been over to the West Midlands for a party so we’ve brought over some things – leftover sandwiches and cakes – just because we wanted to do something,” she said.

Later, a man charged with posting offensive comments on Facebook about the missing youngster is due to appear before magistrates In Lancashire.

Matthew Wood, 20, from Chorley, Lancashire, has been charged under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 with sending by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive.

April Jones: Man Admits Offensive Web Posts

Matthew Woods, 19, from Chorley, Lancashire, made a number of derogatory posts about April and missing Madeline McCann after getting the idea from Sickipedia – a website that “trades in sick jokes”.

He also wrote comments of a sexually explicit nature about the five-year-old who went missing last week from near her home in Machynlleth, mid Wales.

Chorley Magistrates’ Court heard members of the public were so upset about his postings that they reported them to the police.

A “vigilante mob” of around 50 people later descended upon his home address in Eaves Lane and the defendant was arrested on Saturday night at a separate address for his own safety.

Martina Jay, prosecuting, said: “When interviewed by police he fully admitted he posted messages about the two missing children.

“He started this idea when he was at a friend’s house when drinking, saw a joke on Sickipedia and changed it slightly.

“He said he did it in a bid to make people think his account had been hacked. He said it got out of hand and he was drunk while doing it.”

He conceded to police that his Facebook account – available to a large number of people – had not been hacked and that he was responsible for all the postings made on October 3 and 4.

Unemployed Woods entered a guilty plea to sending by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive.

After meeting his client for the first time, defending solicitor David Edwards told the bench: “What struck me immediately is that the enormity of what he has done has finally sunk in.

“He did seem genuinely remorseful and regretful for what he had done.”

The solicitor said Woods explained what had started as a joke had gone wrong.

“His future is uncertain. He does not know whether he can go back to his home address. He fully accepts he was the author of his own misfortune,” Mr Edwards added.

He asked for a community service order to be considered but the bench was told that custody could be imposed for anyone who is convicted of using extreme language that causes substantial distress or fear to another.

The bench asked for a pre-sentence report from a probation officer and said it would keep all options open ahead of sentencing, which is set to take place later.

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