The Disappearance of April Jones: what happened, how to watch Channel 4 documentary, when is it on TV

New Channel 4 three-part true crime documentary The Disappearance of April Jones follows the tragic case of a young girl who was abducted from outside her home one evening where she had been playing with her friend.

April’s disappearance began a major search operation involving police and local civilians and became a sensational national news story, and even drew the attention of the Prime Minister. A suspect was soon found but the search for April dragged on for months.

Who was April Jones?

April Jones was a Welsh child, who had cerebral palsy from Machynlleth, in Wales, whose disappearance on 1 October 2012 launched a major search operation and murder investigation. The five year old girl had been seen getting into a vehicle near her family home.

The disappearance of Jones, aged five, generated a large amount of national and international press coverage. A 46-year-old English man, Mark Bridger, was subsequently arrested.

April had attended a swimming lesson on the evening of 1 October and later invited her friend to watch a film at her home. She then asked her parents to let her play with her friend outside and they eventually gave in. She was last seen by her parents at 7pm that night.

About 20 minutes after April had left to play with her friend her mother became worried and went out to find her - she called 999 half an hour after April left to report her missing. An officer spoke to children who said they had seen April getting into a grey van. The police investigation was then upgraded to a critical incident as it became apparent that April could have been abducted.

Police launched a major search of the area and were joined by many civilians - hundreds of people were involved in the search by the second day of April’s disappearance. Then Prime Minister David Cameron appealed for information, saying: "If you know anything, if you saw anything, heard anything, have any ideas you can bring forward, talk to the police."

The search, which was at the time the largest search for a missing person in the history of UK policing, was called off in April 2013, by this time she was presumed to be dead but officers had been unable to locate her body.

Was April Jones murdered?

Mark Bridger, then 46, was arrested the day after April’s disappearance because he matched the description of the driver April had been seen talking to and his vehicle was believed to be the same one that he got into. The case was designated as a murder enquiry on 5 October and the following day On 6 October, Bridger was charged with child abduction, murder, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Two days later he was also charged with the unlawful concealment and disposal of a body.

In January 2013 Bridger pleaded not guilty to April’s murder but accepted he was probably responsible for her death. In May he was found guilty of the abduction of murder or April Jones, and od perverting the course of justice. He was given a whole life order, meaning that he would serve a life sentence with no hope of release. Roughly 100 whole life orders have been issued in the UK since they were introduced in 1983.

When is The Disappearance of April Jones on TV?

The three-part documentary will begin airing on Channel 4 on Monday 12 December at 9pm with later episodes released at the same time on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 December. Episodes will be available to watch on All4 shortly after they first air.