THE family of murdered April Jones have this week seen their petition for tougher laws for sex offenders debated in Parliament after years of tortuous campaigning.

More than four years after the murder of five-year-old April in 2012, Members of the House of Commons Petitions Committee discussed a petition which calls on the government to legislate for ‘April’s Law’. The law would see all sex offenders remain on the register for life; internet service providers and search engines better policed regarding child abuse images; and tougher sentencing for those caught with indecent images of children.

But the family’s campaign suffered a setback after a government minister said a ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010 meant that a key component of their proposed ‘April’s Law’ would be considered illegal under human rights law.

Speaking to April’s mother, Coral, father Paul, and sister Jazmin, Catherine McKinnell MP, leading the debate, said: “I can only commend the family of April Jones for being so proactive in trying to stop what happened to their daughter and sister from happening to anyone else.”

It was revealed during a TV news interview before the debate that April’s mother Coral was going to apply to see Bridger in prison.

“To ask him ‘why?’,” she said. “What made you look at these images? What made you download these images? And what made you go from looking at these images to murdering a little girl?”

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