April Jones was allowed to play out late as a treat on night she was kidnapped after 'glowing' school report The 46-year-old could be seen gazing out of the window of a secure van as it arrived at the court accompanied by three police cars and a motorcycle outrider, and he was then led into the building in handcuffs, with a blue blanket over his head to shield him from waiting photographers. On Monday night Mr Bridger, a father of at least four children, had been at the same parents evening as April's mother, Coral, and father, Paul, at Machynlleth Primary School. When Mr and Mrs Jones returned home to the Bryn-y-Gog estate they told April her how proud they were at the report she had got from her teachers. To reward her, they allowed her to play outside later than usual, and it was while she and a seven-year-old friend played on their bikes that the kidnapper struck. Friends of April's family disclosed that Mr Bridger had taken April on a trip to the seaside in his Land Rover Discovery in August, together with his own two children, with the permission of April's parents. Paul and Coral Jones had no qualms about allowing their daughter to go with Mr Bridger, as she often played with his two youngest children Sophie and Connor and their four-year-old half-sister Erin, who lived just a few doors away from April with their mother, who is estranged from Mr Bridger. A friend of the family said: "Mark took his kids on a crabbing trip to the coast north of Machynlleth and April went with them in the Land Rover. He was taking Sophie and Connor so Erin and April went along too. Nobody in the family thought anything of it at the time - the kids love going crabbing in the summer. Mr Bridger's former partner Elaine Dafydd, with whom he had Sophie and Connor, is a close friend of April's family. Mrs Dafydd and her husband Rhys have been at the forefront of the search for April and Mr Dafydd has been interviewed on TV talking about the search. The family friend added: "April was always in and out of their house on the estate with her little friends. The kids were always playing together so no one would have raised an eyebrow if Mark took April crabbing. April was also in Mr Bridger's Land Rover two nights before she was kidnapped, when she and two of her friends were given a ride around their estate by Mr Bridger.