April Jones: hope turns to grief as Mark Bridger is charged with murder Hundreds of people from the town and across Powys have helped in the search, day and night, since April went missing on Monday. But in the light of the murder charge, the police have asked locals to let the experts do the work. "It's so horrible," said Mrs Munton, who lives in the same hamlet as the suspect, Ceinws, five miles north of Machynlleth. ." I don't have children of my own but I can imagine just how dreadful it is for April's parents. We all can. Today the people of Machynlleth will gather in their hundreds and march in silence through their town in memory of the child they have lost. "I am not giving up hope," her mother Coral Jones insisted even when the charge was changed from abduction to murder. Hope had kept her going since that terrible moment just after 7pm on Monday when she realised her daughter was missing. April had been allowed to play out later than usual as a reward for a good school report. She was with a friend near her home on the Bryn-y-Gog estate, but was seen to get into a vehicle which drove away. Mrs Jones could only wait at home as one of the largest searches ever seen in Wales began to take shape. Her husband Paul, 43, was advised not to go out looking for his daughter, despite all that his instincts as a parent must have told him, because of a degenerative eye condition. So they could only wait at home as long hours became sleepless nights and agonising days. Wait and hope. But as darkness came again last night, the charge was announced. Just before the news broke, a middle-aged woman was sitting on a bench in Celweis, staring down at the river. Close to tears, the woman who did not want to be named, said: "You don't know the effect of this is having on our village. It's absolutely devastating. This is normally such a happy place, we wave at strangers as they walk or drive through. But now many of us have become suspicious, we've retreated into ourselves. What has happened to April has had such terrible repercussions for everyone who lives around here. Dyfed and Powys police region boasts the lowest levels of recorded crime and the highest total detection rate in the whole of England and Wales. April's abduction was without precedent in an area where petty vandalism is still significant enough to be reported in the local paper. But on the river near the hamlet on Saturday, just by the main bridge into Machynlleth, the police encouraged their sniffer dogs to work. One officer said the dogs were being used to make sure "no stone was left unturned." Other crews used sonar to examine the river bed. Officers in waders plunged batons into the water, or searched under bushes along the bank. A helicopter flew overhead, carrying thermal imaging cameras. Ten miles downstream, towards an estuary, a boat from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute searched. Elsewhere, teams from Mid-Wales Cave Rescue looked in abandoned mines and quarries, where rain swollen underground streams made conditions treacherous. A fingertip examination of Bridger's home was also taking place, for the second time. The house, which overlooks the river, was first sealed off by police on Thursday morning. They lifted paving slabs and examined rubbish bags and boxes of recycling at the rear of the cottage and searched a hedgerow bordering the road opposite, but would say nothing about what as found. Specialists clad in white boiler suits went in again on Friday night and a white and yellow plastic tent was erected at the entrance. Today many of the policemen and women, mountain rescue workers and members of the other emergency services who are off duty will join the procession in April's honour, which will begin close to her home. Friends and members of the family will also be there, although it is not known whether her parents will have the strength to attend. The march along the main road into town and then the High Street will be led by the Bishop of Bangor, the Rt Rev Andy John. It will finish at the 15th century church of St Peter, where a service will take place. There the songs, hymns and readings - and the memories of April - will provide a setting for people to release the emotions that have been building up all week. "There will now be a mixture of anger and despair, but also a strong pulling together of people, not a pulling apart," said Bishop John after a candlelit vigil on Friday night. People in this town have a strong commitment to each other and they want to show that Machynlleth is not like this. They want to show the world that we are better than this. The service on Friday was attended by children who knew April. They stepped forward in the silence, each with an adult holding their hand, and lit candles. When the last of the congregation had sat back down, Bishop John, read the story of the good Samaritan. Like the people of Machynlleth, he refused to walk by on the other side but instead helped a stricken neighbour. "We have seen that outpouring of love and compassion in our own community and among the rescue workers and for that we give thanks," said the Bishop, inviting those gathered to remain inside the church as long as they wanted. Many left in tears. The hunt for April involved more than 60 officers in eight teams, along with the ambulance and fire services, the coastguard, the RNLI and RAF mountain search and rescue teams. Hope died for many at 11.30am on Friday, when Chief Inspector Robyn Mason stood before 200 volunteers to say police were now looking for a body. There was stunned silence. Local men and women had assembled at Machynlleth Leisure Centre to receive their daily instructions for the ongoing search through fields, woodland and rivers for the missing five-year-old. Now they were being told their efforts were no longer needed. "People started to crack at that point," said Scott Roe, 40, a woodland manager who had spent the previous four days helping to scour forests for any sign of April. Until then we had held it together really well. We had still been hopeful of finding her alive, even though time was passing and the chances were getting more remote. It was the searching that gave us hope. But to be told it was now a murder inquiry and we were no longer needed to help the search was a real blow. Some people were in tears. Everyone was very upset. Many of the volunteers had searched through the nights, or risen at dawn each day to begin again. Mr Roe, whose own daughter is five and was at school with April until recently, sat slumped for a while on a bench in the town's High Street. "It's hard to take in," he said. I don't really want to go home because that would well and truly mean the end of trying to find April still alive. He described the moments of hope, such as when one of the volunteer teams came across a child's water bottle. Another found a shoe. But each find was examined by police specialists and ruled out. Everyone was hoping for some sort of breakthrough, but it's not looking at all good now. The lives of the Jones family will be in suspension until they know what happened to April. The people of Machynlleth feel for them, and feel something like the same. They gave their all to find her. Lives were put on hold. People lived on adrenalin and very little sleep. Now, as the detectives do their work, they must go on living as before - but with many more questions than answers. And the parents in this shocked and grieving community must work out what to say to their children. Mr Roe and his wife Ruth have been trying to talk to their daughter about April in as reassuring manner as possible. "It's very tricky," he said. She asks why we're looking for her and up until now I've been able to be pretty positive with her. Her questions are going to be more difficult to answer now.