AUDITORS who criticised Machynlleth Town Council for opening a bank account for donations to a fund for tragic April Jones showed “little comprehension of how things were in Machynlleth at that time”, a councillor has insisted.

Cllr Gareth Jones, who was mayor at the time of April’s disappearance, hit out at the “faceless and unemotional” report from auditors BDO which ruled that the council had no power to open a bank account for the donations.

Cllr Jones added: “If that is the legacy of my term of office as mayor of Machynlleth I will readily accept that, regardless of what accountants or auditors may say.

“Heaven forbid that we should go through such a traumatic episode ever again just to demonstrate we have listened to the opinions of a faceless and unemotional audit.”

Cllr Michael Williams said: “They were very trying and traumatic times. I find it difficult to see what else we could have done at that time.”

Machynlleth deputy mayor Sylvia Rowlands added: “It was an innocent thing on our part.”

Councillors approved a raft of recommendations put forward by auditors BDO in the damning report into the town council’s “deficiencies in financial governance” between the 2009/10 and 2014/15 financial years.

See this week's Machynlleth & Llanidloes edition for the full story, in shops and online now