April Jones killer Mark Bridger to appeal against sentence

April Jones' killer Mark Bridger is to appeal against his whole-life sentence.

The Judicial Office said the 47-year-old had lodged an application for permission to appeal.

Bridger was convicted of murdering five-year-old April at a trial in May and sentenced to life in prison.

The schoolgirl went missing from outside her home in Machynlleth on 1 October 2012. Despite the largest police search in British history, her body has never been found.

April's parents Paul and Coral Jones told the Sun newspaper they had been warned by police of Bridger's intention.

They said they planned to attend the initial hearing at the Court of Appeal which is scheduled for the new year.

Mrs Jones said: "He's in prison where he belongs and he should stay there.

"He's just torturing my family with these legal battles. It's like he's taunting us, like he wants to show he's got the upper hand."

Speaking to BBC 5 Live, April Jones's grandmother Linda Smith said: "I really don't think he should have any right to appeal.

"It's a bit of a shock to me. I didn't realise this was happening.

"We would like to move on but it's very difficult when things happen like this. It just brings it all up again."

She added: "I know that the law says he's allowed to do this but I really hope it doesn't happen.

"I don't understand him. If he can't say what has happened I don't see how he can appeal.

"He's just never said, has he? He never will, I don't think."

Bridger's trial heard he had killed April in a sexually motivated attack.

April, who had mild cerebral palsy, was the youngest of her parents' three children.

Child sex abuse images were found on his computer, along with images of children from the local area.

Bridger had claimed he had run over April and could not remember where he disposed of her body.

April's blood was found in Bridger's cottage at Ceinws, near Machynlleth, along with a number of knives and fragments of bone consistent with a juvenile human skull.

The trial judge called Bridger a "pathological liar" and a "paedophile" before giving him a whole-life jail term.